A Vincentian man has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of a woman in the British Virgin Islands who had obtained a restraining order against him in January.
Rohan Williams, 37, was charged on Monday with the murder of Lenia Green, which occurred one day earlier.
Green was shot and left on the road at George’s Northside, Tortola on Sunday. She was taken to hospital, where she died.
During his court appearance on Tuesday, Williams denied the charge.
“It’s a lie,” he said as Crown Counsel Nick Saunders read the charge to him, according to BVI Platinum News.
Williams, who was not represented, told the court that he could not afford a lawyer.
He was not required to plead to the indictable charge and was remanded in custody until July 24.
The case against Williams is that on May 26, about 8:15 p.m., gunshot and the screams of a woman were heard at George’s Northside
Around 8:45 p.m. the same night, a witness saw a blue SUV leaving the area and moments later, a witness saw Green lying in a pool of blood.
Prosecutors are alleging that Green knew Williams as he worked at the home of her sister-in-law and became a friend of the family.
The Crown is further alleging that Williams’ daughter and girlfriend told police that on the night in question, Williams picked them up at a laundry sometime between 8:45 p.m. and 9 p.m.
He was driving the blue SUV he had been driving before and his girlfriend noted that he had changed his clothes and his daughter noted that his hair was wet.
The Crown Counsel said that the police searched the home of the defendant and found clothing soaking in the bathtub.
He told police he had been at home, alone, but refused to give police a DNA sample.
Williams was remanded in custody. The next hearing in the matter is on July 24.
It is so backward and classist that when poor people accused of murder who can’t afford legal counsel are not given a public defender to represent them in a case that could see them serve a lifetime sentence if found guilty, the usual outcome in such cases.
On the other hand, when wealthy upper class people, including many non-Black people, are charged with murder, they have the means to hire the best criminal lawyers in region resulting in their being found not guilty in a disproportionate number of cases compared to poor lower class people.
This artificially and racially inflates the number of poor, young mainly Black men being found guilty of murder when, in fact, many murders are also committed by the high and mighty in our corrupt Caribbean “civilization.”
STRONG CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
Yes, ‘…innocent until proven guilty,’ but not sure how he would ‘…wiggle his way out.’
Very ‘…Strong Circumstantial Evidence.’
Based upon ‘…girlfriend’s and daughter’s observations, an ‘alibi,’ seems to be out of reckoning.
Still, it would require more.
He may hope for the best, but must still expect the worse.