A seven-member jury in the Andre Ruddock murder trial in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Wednesday watched video recording of the accused appearing composed as he admitted to detectives that he cut the throat of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner on October 17, 2021 at Pathways International Restoration Kingdom Ministries in Albion, St James.

Ruddock was heard in the video telling the detectives at a police station in St James, in the presence of two justices of the peace, that he was instructed by his now deceased pastor, Dr Kevin Smith, to carry out the gruesome, human-sacrifice killing of Gardner at the church.

In the video, Ruddock was seen calmly answering the 42 questions posed to him by detectives as he gave them a picture of what led up to him cutting Gardner’s throat.

Ruddock was even seen sipping what appeared to be water from a 1.5 litre bottle as he sat with his back against a wall.

The detectives did not appear to be aggressive towards him, and neither did it appear that he was forced or threatened in any way to say what he told them and the justices of the peace.

Ruddock was asked questions and he provided the responses. After the questions and answers were read out to him, Ruddock was invited to sign the document, which he stood up and completed on the table that was before him and the detectives.

One of the detectives thanked Ruddock for cooperating with them and expressed that he wished everything worked out well for him.

After the playing of the video in court, prosecutor LaToya Bernard continued her examination-in-chief of a detective corporal who was one of the two detectives present inside the room with Ruddock and the two justices of the peace. She invited him to tell the court what he did after Ruddock signed the question-and-answer document.

The detective said he packed up the video recording equipment and created two DVDs which contained all that Ruddock told them.

The prosecutor then went on to ask the witness where he was on October 21, 2021 and what activities he carried out in relation to the case.

The detective, who is now at the rank of corporal, asked to see his written statement which he gave in the matter in order to refresh his memory.

He was shown the statement and then he began to explain that he and another detective were given certain instructions by a superior.

He explained that electronic items taken from the murder scene were transported to the police’s cybercrime division where they were handed over to an analyst.

“Items included cell phones, cameras, a digital video recorder and memory cards. The analyst gave me a receipt in return and I subsequently handed over the receipt to Detective Inspector McLeod on my return to the Falmouth Police Station,” he said.

He explained that he saw the body of Taneka Gardner more than once after it was removed from the church.

“After making arrangements with the father of Taneka Gardner, I met with him at the Archer’s Funeral Home located in Spanish Town, St Catherine. We were there for the post-mortem of Taneka Gardner,” he said, explaining that a pathologist confirmed to him that Gardner’s death was as a result of a slash to the throat.