An emotional woman detective sergeant cried repeatedly on the witness stand during the Andre Ruddock murder trial in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Tuesday as she recounted details of the bloody scene at Pathways International Restoration Ministries in Albion, St James, on October 17, 2021.

The cop, who was the initial investigator into the chilling events that unfolded at the compound before she handed over the case to a more senior detective, confirmed that three lifeless bodies, including that of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner and two male members of the church were lying on the ground when she arrived.

Andre Ruddock is on trial for murder in relation to Gardner’s killing. Ruddock allegedly cut her throat on instructions from his pastor, Kevin Smith.

As she described what she saw when she arrived at the scene about 9:30pm, the cop broke down in tears. Asked by trial Judge Leighton Pusey if she wished to take a seat while she continued her testimony, she said she would like to sit, but the memories appeared to be too much and she broke down again.

“At this point I saw several vehicles and cows on the compound. Whilst on the outside, a police officer ran to me and spoke with me. I went to the ambulance and I spoke with a young man who was there bleeding from his neck and back. I identified myself to him and I also informed him I would be carrying out investigations into the incident. He said he wanted to tell me something about what occurred on the church compound and the injuries which he received and he told me what happened,” said the detective after she composed herself.

She testified that a man in an ambulance told her Ruddock cut Gardner’s throat.

“He said I should look and I would see her lying down, wrapped up in a white sheet at the front of the yard,” the cop shared.

She broke down again when explaining what Kevin Smith told her when she went over to him where he was sitting.

“I was appalled by what I saw. I spoke with the person on my right, who was in an orange brief, who was referred to as Dr Kevin Smith. I said [to myself], ‘What is happening?’ Because at the time I could see a body rolled up in a white sheet and a lot of things.’ The scene, the scene, it was just very unusual. He stretched out a long cloth and said, ‘Try it on. I am the I am’,” she explained as she began to cry again.

When she composed herself, she told the very attentive seven-member jury consisting of six females and one man that after she spoke to Smith, she then turned her attention to Ruddock, who was in underpants, “partially dressed”.

“I saw his face, his body all the way down. I don’t remember if he had on shoes. When I went over to him I was about five to six feet away. He is sitting right there in the dock [today]. I told him I was carrying out an investigation into the incident at the church and that he was a person of interest. I asked him his name and he told me his name was Andre Kirlew. I had doubts so I asked the police to take hold of him whilst I carried out further investigations on the compound,” said the detective.

She described the state of the body wrapped in the sheet.

“Part of her feet were out. Most of the body was wrapped up and it was bloody at the neck and her face was down. The grocery items were on the same walking area. I saw mostly cup soup, biscuits, rice ,and all kinds of stuff that you call food,” she added.

She told the court that she saw another body to the left of the church, a slim-built male of “about 18 or 20”.

“He was wearing greyish pants and a reddish coloured T-shirt. His right hand was clenched and a long knife was beside his right hand. I walked towards a step, trying to gain access to a boardwalk where they said there was another body. The steps took me onto a large board area used for worship. It looks like a verandah. I observed blood all over and the place was fully ransacked with food all over,” said the detective.

During cross-examination by Ruddock’s attorney, Anthony Williams, the witness was pressed about why she had failed to indicate in her statement whether or not the man in the ambulance said he actually saw when Ruddock cut Gardner’s throat.

Williams pointed out that in her report, she only indicated that the injured man in the ambulance told her that instructions were given by Pastor Smith for Gardner’s throat to be cut. However, no mention was made of him actually seeing Ruddock cut the woman’s throat.

The trial resumes Wednesday.