The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

THE mother of Ishido Saunders testified that her son threatened a pastor at Golden Gates Assembly Church before he was killed.

She spoke as the inquest into her son’s police-involved killing got underway in the Coroner’s Court.

Acting Coroner Kara Turnquest-Deveaux presided as a five-person jury was empanelled to make a finding after Saunders, 38, was killed by police on April 28, 2022.

Bjorn Ferguson represents the two officers whose actions are the subject of the inquest: Corporal Dominique Bain and PC Calvino Jones.

Angelo Whitfield marshalled the evidence.

Ruth Cox, the deceased’s mother, testified that on the day of her son’s death, she drove him to Golden Gates Assembly Church to meet Pastor Trent Davis. 

She said her son and Pastor Davis were involved in a discussion about the police. She said her son became angry when she mentioned Andrew Farquharson, a man whose death caused Saunders to spend 12 years in prison. Saunders was reportedly convicted in 2006 and released in 2018.

Ms Cox said her son told her not to embarrass him, became enraged and pulled out a chain with a pocket knife attached. When she saw the weapon, she told the deceased that she was leaving, only for Saunders to lock the door of the foyer and tell her: “You aren’t going anywhere.”

Mrs Cox said the deceased began swinging the knife in the church, demanding that Pastor Davis open his office door after he locked himself inside out of fear.

She said Saunders eventually left the building through a side exit, and that by the time church officials let her outside, police had gathered around her son on the street. 

She said that she saw him lying on his right side and knew he was dead given how he was positioned on the street. She said it looked like he was sleeping.

Someone across the street who knew the deceased later told Mrs Cox her son was shot twice to the head after he pulled out a gun and fired it at a police car.

Mrs Cox said the witness gave her a photo of the deceased lying on the ground, but she never saw a video of the incident, though she said she was told one was given to police.

The deceased’s mother said that she identified her son’s body at the morgue before he was cremated later that year.

She said her son was not sick or mentally ill before his death. She also explained that Pastor Davis had often helped him and took him to the police when he feared someone was trying to kill him. She said Pastor Davis was a family friend. 

Describing Saunders’ upbringing, she said he grew up in a Christian house and was a loving and caring child. She said his co-workers highly praised him as a foreman.

Throughout her testimony, Mrs Cox appeared calm and composed. 

During cross-examination from Mr Ferguson, she said she did not know her son had a weapon and that if she had known, she wouldn’t have driven him anywhere.

Although she said she was not afraid of her son during his outburst at the church, she acknowledged that he was angry before his death.

Nathaniel Hopkins, a man who lived across the street from the church, testified that he was eating breakfast when he heard the deceased cursing some 12 to 20ft from his kitchen. He said he saw Saunders walk past his kitchen window and heard him yelling at someone toward the church, saying: “You think this a game, hey? You don’t know who you‘re talking to.”

He said he saw the deceased pull out a gun and twirl it in the direction of the person he was threatening. He said he never saw who Saunders allegedly threatened. 

He said a couple of minutes later, he heard two to four shots, followed by eight to 12 continuous shots.

He said police sirens blared soon after. He later saw someone lying on the street about five houses down from him.