Second JP backs claim Ruddock was not forced to give statement

A second justice of the peace (JP) on Friday testified that Andre Ruddock voluntarily gave police a statement in which he allegedly confessed to cutting Taneka Gardner’s throat.

The witness corroborated earlier testimony from a colleague that Ruddock was not forced, threatened or harmed, nor offered any inducement to give the caution statement, on October 18, 2021 – a day after Gardner was killed in an alleged sacrificial ritual at Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in St James.

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However, unlike his colleague, the second JP did not mention in his evidence-in-chief whether Ruddock had been told of his right to remain silent or advised that he could access the services of a duty counsel after indicating that he did not have a lawyer but wished to proceed.