Policeman’s death was suicide

Police officer Raphael Anthony Williams, whose body was found hanging from a tree in East End in January, died by suicide, a coroner’s jury determined on Wednesday afternoon. 

Required to include the deceased’s state of mind, the seven jurors concluded that at the time of his death the policeman felt embarrassed and humiliated by his arrest and extremely stressed and distraught at the thought of going to prison. 

Queen’s Coroner Eileen Nervik summed up the evidence from Monday and last week. 

An incident occurred in the early hours of Jan. 6, which led to a woman motorist making a complaint. After investigation, Mr. Williams was arrested on Jan. 9 for bribery and breach of trust, referring to the allegation that he solicited sexual favors from the woman. 

He was kept in custody overnight, interviewed and bailed on Jan. 10. After a sleepless night and talking with his wife, he went to Cox Lumber on Jan. 11 and bought a length of rope. His wife reported him missing that night, and the next day a police helicopter saw his car on the Colliers Wilderness Road. Officers went to the scene and found his body hanging from a tree some 56 feet through dense bush from his car. 

The coroner noted that when Mr. Williams was arrested, he had handed over his cellphones. She said he would have known it was only a matter of time before the Anti-Corruption Unit inspector wold check his phone and find photographs on it. Those photographs were previously described as intimate and of individual females, one of whom was thought to be between 12 and 14 years old. 

Mrs. Williams gave evidence last week that her husband told her he was being set up, that he had not done what he was accused of. He told her they were going to send him to Northward Prison and he would rather die than go there because he had sent a number of people there and they would kill him. She said his biggest fear was that he did not want to go to Northward.  

The coroner instructed jurors that suicide is death by a deliberate act of the deceased, and at all times he intended that the consequences would be his death. 

The standard of proof for a verdict of suicide is beyond reasonable doubt. The standard of proof for the alternatives – natural causes or misadventure – is a balance of probabilities (something being more likely than not). If jurors were not sure, they could return an open verdict, meaning that the evidence was not sufficient to record any other verdict. 

Following the delivery of the verdict of suicide, the coroner commented that it was clear during the inquest that police officers found this tragedy and death of their colleague very troubling. She had asked officers about what counseling or training they received. Due to the responses she received, she suggested that the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service consider grief counseling and other counseling services specifically designed for police officers. 

She also suggested that members of the RCIPS could benefit from some sensitivity training and “people skills” training on an ongoing basis. She said she had been informed that such training had been undertaken in the 1990s, but not in recent years. 

The coroner noted that she has presided over approximately 140 inquests and has had a fair number of attorneys appear on behalf of interested parties. She therefore wanted to mention the knowledge or lack of knowledge on the part of attorneys about Coroner’s Courts. She suggested they take the time to become informed about the law and procedures before the day of the inquiry. It would also be helpful if they took time to sit in and observe an inquest. Such preparation could only be helpful to all parties in the smoother running of the court, with less time wasted on irrelevant matters. 

She explained several times through this inquest that it was not a trial and did not deal with civil or criminal liability. Neither was it a fishing expedition for material for civil liability. 

An inquest is a public inquiry into the facts of a death, she said. It is the coroner’s duty to ensure that facts are freely and fairly investigated and exposed to public scrutiny. She determined the procedure and the jury decided the facts. 

In doing so, they needed to distinguish between the arguments of attorneys and the testimony of witnesses and consider only the testimony. 

Before the jury began hearing evidence last week, she granted a day’s adjournment. She said she was sympathetic, partly because the deceased’s wife was applying for legal aid and had not received an answer. She also heard a request from attorney James Stenning for copies of documents. 

The coroner explained that the only document she could give was the autopsy report because she was the one who had ordered the post mortem examination to be conducted. Witness statements are taken by police and remain with the police until the witnesses are sworn and give their evidence or the statements are in a proper form to be read into evidence. Only then do they become public. 

The coroner does allow interested parties or their attorneys to ask questions, but the purpose of doing so is to assist in establishing the matters the inquest was called to determine.