On a rainy night on May 26, 2019, Jamila Stevens was driving home from the Leverick Bay Poker Run when she spotted a woman lying in the road in the Georges Northside area.
“I approached her, and she said she was raped and shot,” Ms. Stevens testified recently in High Court. “When I asked her what happened, she named the person that shot her. She named the person as Rohan Williams at that time.”
The woman was 46-year-old Virgin Islander Lenia Lettsome-Green, who would soon be dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
And Mr. Williams — a Vincentian who was 37 at the time — was arrested the next day and charged with her murder.
More than five years later, the case against Mr. Williams concluded on July 12 in the High Court when he was found guilty of rape and murder following a lengthy trial that saw more than 20 witnesses testify over the course of nearly two months.
Prosecutors used evidence including witness testimony, two bullet casings and DNA analysis to build their case that Mr. Williams raped and killed the married mother of three after she ended an affair with him and turned to Christianity.
Defence attorney Michael Maduro rejected that narrative, describing the evidence as “all circumstantial” and highlighting Mr. Williams’ claim that he had nothing to do with the crime.
On the afternoon of July 12, a unanimous jury of eight women and one man sided with prosecutors after deliberating for less than three hours.
Mr. Williams, who showed no emotion when the verdict was delivered, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 14 by Justice Angelica Teelucksingh, who presided over his trial.
‘Hell hath no fury’
The trial got under way on May 21 as Principal Crown Counsel Kellee-Gai Smith stood before the jury and began her opening statement.
“Hell hath no fury like a man scorned,” the prosecutor said. “We often hear about the vengeful, scorned and rejected woman. However, we hardly hear about the rejected and vengeful man who kills his former lover who has left him.”
Over the course of the trial that followed, Ms. Smith worked to paint a picture of Mr. Williams as a jilted lover who was angered when Ms. Lettsome-Green broke off their relationship.
In the months before the killing, Mr. Williams — a neighbour of Ms. Lettsome-Green who was well-known to her family — attempted to blackmail her, sending explicit photos to her sons and threatening to send them to her husband and post them on social media, according to the crown.
After Mr. Williams went to her workplace at Trident Trust in October 2018 and demanded to speak to her, Ms. Lettsome-Green obtained a court protection order in January 2019, according to prosecution evidence presented at the trial.
But prosecutors alleged that the order was not enough to protect Ms. Lettsome-Green from Mr. Williams, who they said raped and shot her before abandoning her at Georges Northside.
In support of their case, the crown presented analysis of DNA samples taken from the crime scene and from Ms. Lettsome-Green’s body. The samples, prosecutors said, supported their claim that Mr. Williams raped her.
They also cited forensic analysis suggesting that a spent nine-millimetre shell found at the crime scene had been fired from the same gun as a spent shell discovered in the pocket of shorts recovered from Mr. Williams’ home during a search the night of the killing.
During the trial, prosecutors called witnesses including Ms. Stevens, friends and family of Ms. Lettsome-Green, several police officers, a DNA analyst, and the pathologist who conducted an autopsy and determined the cause of death.
Defence
Mr. Williams did not take the stand during the trial, but his attorney attempted to show that he was innocent.
The night of the killing, Mr. Maduro suggested, Mr. Williams dropped his girlfriend off at a laundromat and then went home to work on his car and wash his hair so his girlfriend could braid it when she returned.
Throughout the trial, the defence attorney also tried to poke holes in the prosecution’s account.
While cross-examining Ms. Stevens, for instance, Mr. Maduro suggested that the heavy rain at the time could have affected Ms. Stevens’ ability to hear Ms. Lettsome-Green’s words.
“I am putting to you that you are mistaken to what you heard Ms. Green say,” Mr. Maduro said.
Ms. Stevens, who was appearing in court remotely via Zoom, disagreed.
“I’m also putting to you that Ms. Green never called Rohan Williams’ name,” Mr. Maduro said.
Ms. Stevens fired back.
“Were you there?” she asked, eliciting a chuckle from the jury. “I’m sorry: I disagree.”
Pausing for court to fall silent again, Mr. Maduro pushed further.
“Please answer yes or no,” he said.
“No,” Ms. Stevens replied.
Mr. Maduro then suggested that Ms. Lettsome-Green never indicated to Ms. Stevens that Mr. Williams was the person who shot her.
Ms. Stevens replied, “She indicated exactly that. I disagree.”
Procedures
Mr. Maduro also raised questions about various procedures used in the police investigation.
For instance, he noted that the spent shell police allegedly found in Mr. Williams’ shorts pocket was not discovered until 10 days after the killing.
He also noted that the forensic analysis suggesting the two shells were shot by the same gun could have been tainted by human error.
He raised similar questions about the DNA analysis presented by the crown.
Ultimately, though, he was unable to convince the jury.
At the end of the trial, Mr. Williams was led out of the Sakal Building and into a waiting prison van.
Allison Vaughn contributed reporting.