Attorney suggests pastor, not Ruddock, killed woman

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Attorney-at-law Anthony Williams on Wednesday suggested to a witness that he had a grudge against his client, and that was what prompted him to accuse him of cutting the throat of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner on October 17, 2021 at the Pathways International Restoration Ministries in Albion, St James.

Williams’ client, Andre Ruddock, is currently on trial for murder in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston in relation to the alleged sacrificial killing of Gardner at the church. The witness told the court that Ruddock cut Gardner’s throat on the command of their now deceased pastor, Dr Kevin Smith.

Smith was killed days later during a motor vehicle crash in St Catherine while he was being brought to Kingston to be interviewed by the police in relation to the events which unfolded at the church.