Natalee Williams, widow of police officer Raphael Anthony Williams, told the Coroner’s Court on Friday that her husband had told her senior officers were “breaking their own law to ensure I go to jail.”
She gave evidence at the inquest into her husband’s death in January. He was arrested on Jan. 9 for allegedly soliciting sexual favors from a female motorist while on duty. Two days later he was seen buying rope at a hardware store and the next day, Jan. 12, his body was found hanged from a tree off Colliers Wilderness Drive in East End.
“The treatment they gave Raphael was what led him to the tree,” Mrs. Williams said.
She recounted speaking to her husband while he was in custody at the George Town Police Station. In front of his attorney, Charles Clifford, she asked him what happened in the incident earlier that week. He said he pulled a lady over for speeding and asked for her license and insurance papers. The lady started to cry and asked for a break. She told him she had two children, with no father to help support them. He explained to her the consequences if she got into an accident without insurance.
The woman asked if she could have until Friday because she got paid then. He asked if she could borrow the money from friends.
Mrs. Williams told the court, “Raphael said to me, ‘You know I don’t give bly, but she had children and no father, and this is the thanks I get.’” (“Bly” is a slang term for “give a chance” or “let you off,” she clarified to Queen’s Coroner Eileen Nervik.) Mrs. Williams said her husband told her that the woman asked for his phone number, and when he indicated she could contact the station, she said she wanted to bring the insurance papers to him directly.
(The court has heard that officers had the woman phone the number she said she was given as part of their investigation before Mr. Williams’ arrest.)
While her husband was in custody, Mrs. Williams said she asked him directly, “Did you do what they said?” He replied, “No.”
When Mrs. Williams returned home from work around 9 p.m. Friday, her husband was home and said his head was hurting. She asked if she should take him to hospital, but he said no.
He told her that Detective Inspector Richard Oliver did not want to give him bail that night. His lawyer, Mr. Clifford, had to “raise hell” – meaning he was arguing with the officer not to send Mr. Williams to Northward Prison that Friday night.
Her husband told her that Mr. Oliver said he had to make a call before giving any bail; Mr. Williams thought the call was to Police Commissioner David Baines. He said Mr. Oliver came back into the room with an attitude – “You are free to go now, but bear in mind when you come back for bail on Tuesday, 4 p.m., I will be booking you to Northward Prison.”
Mrs. Williams said her husband told her his head started to pain him even more. “I know I haven’t done anything and they are setting me up.” He told his wife, “I am not guilty, Natalee,” and started to cry.
She asked why he was so afraid. He said, “Natalee, you have no idea what we are dealing with.” He said he knew he would not get away from “the Tempura officers” unless he had a good lawyer. (Operation Tempura was an investigation begun in 2008 by officers from the U.K. Metropolitan Police Force.) He told her of other instances when people had tried to pressure him not to give tickets.
Mr. Williams had wanted Peter Polack as an attorney. He had not been able to reach Mr. Polack after his arrest, and then other officers said he would not be able to afford Mr. Polack. He was given other lawyers’ names and he picked Mr. Clifford.
He told his wife the cell officers had placed him in was not suitable for humans, but he had been told he was not there to feel sorry for prisoners, he was there to do his job.
After his arrest, he asked not to be put in that cell. He told his wife that Mr. Oliver responded, “At this point you are not in the position to make any requests.”
Mrs. Williams said her husband told her he had asked to be taken through the back door of the police station after his arrest, but they had taken him through the front. “Raphael told me, ‘These people are heartless, cruel, hateful and wicked.’” He told her they had shamed him and embarrassed him in front of his colleagues.
He also told her there was discrimination and a division in the department between the English officers and the Caribbean officers. He told her he couldn’t work in that environment and would leave the force in September.
Mrs. Williams said her husband couldn’t sleep Friday night and they spent much of the time talking. On Saturday morning, he sent her out on an errand. His last words to her were, “Natalee, you don’t understand what they have done to me. The way they treated me might as well they would have killed me.”
She said the whole Cayman Islands knew her husband because he had worked as a security guard at Immigration and at the courthouse before joining the police service.
Her attorney, James Stenning, asked if she knew about the “intimate photographs” of females found on her husband’s phone. She said she was informed of them on Sept. 1. Mr. Stenning asked if she had offered to assist police in identifying the pictures, but the coroner did not allow the question. Crown Counsel Greg Walcolm pointed out that Mr. Stenning had the opportunity to ask that question of Mr. Oliver when he was giving his evidence.
Jurors heard from government pathologist Shravana Jyoti as to the physical cause of Mr. Williams’ death. The inquest was scheduled to continue on Monday morning.
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