Police have charged a 25-year-old man with murder in connection with the death of Precious Williams, 17, of Sion Hill, whose body was found in a bag in Richmond Hill on May 12, 2022.
Acting Commissioner of Police Enville Williams announced the charge against Rolando Cato aka Dinero, 25, of Ratho Mill during a press conference in Kingstown on Monday.
Cato is in prison serving a sentence for robbery, police said.
Williams noted that he had promised at a press conference soon after he became police chief in September 2023 that detectives would continue to work to bring all murderers to justice.
He noted that he had said that if it seemed as if nothing was happening this did not mean that investigators were not working behind the scenes.
“And so, I wish to announce to you the Vincentian public that moments ago, the officers of the Major Crime Unit arrested and charged one Rolando Cato aka Dinero for the murder of Precious Williams, which murder was committed sometime between the 9th and 12th of May, 2022, when this young lady was chopped up and her body placed in a rucksack and placed in the Murray’s Road area.”
The police chief expressed to Precious Williams’ family specifically and the relatives of all families impacted by violence “our continued commitment to pursue, to the very end, perpetrators of violence and these acts of murders”.
Williams commended the head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Superintendent Clauston Francis, who he has said put in a herculean effort to give justice to families affected by violence.
Cato, the son of a former police officer, is expected to appear before a magistrate on Tuesday to hear the indictable charge.
Bail will not be open to him at that stage and he is expected to be remanded in custody until the preliminary hearing.
Williams’ death had sent shock waves across the country when her decomposing body was found in a sack in a gutter in Murray’s Village.
She was identified by tattoos on her body after police circulated photos of the body markings.
In November 2023, about two months after being appointed acting commissioner of police with responsibility for crime-fighting, Trevor Bailey aka Buju, a veteran detective, announced that he had ordered investigators to take a fresh look at Williams’ murder, and that of Veronica “Keisha” Small.
Small’s body was found at the tarmac of the decommissioned ET Joshua Airport in Arnos Vale, on Aug. 25, 2022, with a piece of PVC conduit protruding from her vagina.
With the charge against Cato, police have now brought murder charges in connection with both of those deaths.
In December 2023, police charged Rion Cole, aka “Pitbull”, a then 24-year-old labourer, of Paul’s Avenue, with murder in connection with Small’s death.
In September, after a preliminary inquiry, Senior Magistrate Colin John ruled that Cole should stand trial before a judge and jury for Small murder.
He remains in prison awaiting his trial.
At Monday’s press conference, Bailey declined to give details about Williams’ case and did not answer a question about whether Cato and Williams were intimately involved.
“… I will say this that the evidence that the police have unearthed during this investigation was reviewed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution and her advice, along with her team, we are satisfied that we have the evidence that can withstand a criminal trial, and at the end of the day, we can secure a criminal conviction,” Bailey said in response to a question.
“The specifics of the case, it will be improper of me to say, in this forum,” he further said.
Bailey said the murder charge is testimony of the hard work of the police force, specifically the Major Crime Unit in collaboration with the public.
He noted that police had committed on a number of occasions that they would not rest until Williams’ killer(s) is found.
“Today, we have announced that [alleged] perpetrator,” Bailey said, adding that the announcement was not made “with any boast in mind.
“It goes to show that when society and law enforcement cooperate what we will achieve and we have done so on this occasion.
“I’m extremely happy that we have delivered on one commitment,” Bailey said, noting that the relatives of other murder victims would ask about their cases.
“And you are correct in asking those questions of the police. And I give you, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the assurance that we are working,” Bailey said.
“We are working assiduously. Sometimes the result doesn’t come with the snapping of a finger, but it really comes with a lot of painstaking hours of searching and knocking on doors and wee hours of the morning. And I asked then, and I asked even now, for your patience,” Bailey said.
In announcing the murder charge, Williams said the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force was doing all in its power to continue to bring all murderers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to justice.
The charge in the cold case comes even as St. Vincent and the Grenadines recorded its 52 homicides — three short of the record of 55 set in 2023.
The latest homicide victim is Isaiah Antrobus aka Rich Gang, 23, of Redemption Sharpes, who was gunned down in Glen.
Police said they responded to a report around 5:47 p.m. of a shooting in an area in Glen known as “Gaza”.
“Upon arrival, officers discovered 23-year-old Isiah Antrobus, a resident of Redemption Sharpes, with gunshot injuries about his body. He succumbed to his injuries at the scene,” police said in a statement on Monday.