‘We are not breaking ranks’

TWO defence lawyers representing murder accused Andre Ruddock appeared in court on Monday as his trial continued, despite colleagues maintaining a pledge to withdraw legal services from all criminal matters islandwide in pursuit of amendments to the Firearms Prohibition Restriction and Regulation Act 2022. But according to attorney Anthony Williams, he and fellow counsel Venice Brown did not break ranks with their colleagues. Instead they had a duty to their client which had to be fulfilled. “We want to make it very clear that we are not breaking ranks with our colleagues. Myself and Miss Brown are 150 per cent in support of our colleagues. However, there is a difference — the Jamaica Bar Association knows about it and they also sanctioned it. The difference is that when you are in a part-heard matter you can’t just go and strike like that. You have to seek the permission of your client in writing,” Williams told the Jamaica Observer. “If you don’t seek the permission of your client in writing, then you can be deemed to have neglected your client and you can be sanctioned as well. Also, the court can proceed with the matter and the judge can possibly cite you for contempt of court,” Williams explained. He added that in the absence of defence attorneys a judge may decide to proceed in a part-heard matter because lawyers are expected to be present. He said that if they don’t turn up, they do so at their own peril. “The situation is different when you are in a part-heard matter, and the lawyer, whoever he or she is, cannot just abandon their client just like that; they have to seek the client’s permission. And in this particular case our client said, ‘Run with it.’ There are many other lawyers who are in the same position, but we have not abandoned our colleagues,” Williams stressed. In addition to Williams and Brown, a number of attorneys showed up for their clients on Monday at the Home Circuit Court for various reasons, including that some were not in agreement with the protest action. Essentially, the defence lawyers are arguing that the Act removes discretionary powers from judges, as it mandates a 15-year minimum sentence for an illegal gun possession conviction. Williams’ client, Ruddock, is being tried in relation to the October 17, 2021 killing of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner in what has been described as a human sacrifice ritual at Pathways International Restoration Ministries in Albion St James. Ruddock allegedly cut Gardner’s throat on the instruction of his now deceased pastor, Kevin Smith. Smith died in a car crash in St Catherine a few days later while being transported to Kingston to be charged with the incident. On Monday the fourth witness in the case, a police sergeant based in St James, returned to complete his testimony which he started last week. He described the scene at the church as “evil, fluid and chaotic”. “People were moving from one direction to the next. One body was seen close to the pool area,” the witness recalled. He explained that members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) made their way through barbed wires to gain access to the compound of the church where three people, including Gardner and two male members of the church, lay dead. One of the men was allegedly killed by Smith, while the police were said to have shot dead the other man who had rushed toward them with a knife. Based on the sustained gunfire and the sacrificial-type activities that were taking place at the church, the security forces had to call for adequate back-up, which included support from the military. “The soldiers got to the barbed wire. I saw them climbing over and onto the church premises. On reaching the premises I shouted out to them. Police, accompanied by army personnel, proceeded towards a person who was kneeling behind the column at the entrance gate. I observed them accosting this person. They arrested him and carried out a search of him. The police and soldiers then forced open the big entrance gate,” the witness said. “When they got there, the man was still in the kneeling position with white cloth over his head. He stood up and the officers searched him. When he stood up, from where I was standing [on the roof] I couldn’t see his face. I could only see the height of the person who was about 5 feet two or three inches tall. At that time there were a lot of police personnel and soldiers around this man. They took him on[to] the roadway and I couldn’t see what took place from there,” the witness said, without being able to say who the man was.