Williams admits to murder after witnesses give evidence at trial

Adrian Obrian Williams threw in the towel and pleaded guilty to murder, two days after jurors began hearing evidence in his trial.

The Henley Land, St John resident on Thursday admitted to stabbing Jakeil Small to death on March 23, 2018 at Regent Hill, the Pine, St Michael.

His plea came after three witnesses, including one eyewitness, testified on the second day of his trial before Justice Carlisle Greaves and a 12-member jury in the No. 3 Supreme Court.

Following Williams’ re-arraignment, which was done at the request of his attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens, Justice Greaves instructed jurors to return a formal guilty verdict on the single-count indictment against the accused.

Eyewitness Jason Alleyne, responding to questions from Senior State Counsel Neville Watson, testified that he drove his girlfriend, Williams who he knows as ‘Waxy’, and his cousin, who is also Williams’ girlfriend, to Sheraton Mall on March 23, 2018. From there, they travelled to Oistins and spent some time there. 

They were making their way back home when Williams informed him he needed some Ital food. After some discussion, Williams suggested that they go to the Pine.

After they arrived, the two women waited in the car while he and Williams went to order the food. 

Alleyne said he asked Williams where he could get wrappers, and Williams directed him. He said he left Williams at the shop, but on his way back, “I see Waxy and a man got it inside the road. They were scuffling, they were fighting . . . . A good set of people were there too”.

“He was on the ground and Waxy was over he. To tell you the truth, when I see Waxy over he, I ran and head back to the car because . . . my intention was to get from ‘bout dey,” Alleyne added.

The witness said that while he was trying to drive out, Williams ran up to the car and got in.

The prosecutor asked the witness to describe Williams at the point he got in the car, to which Alleyne replied: “He look like how you look when you now commit a crime. That was the sort of look on his face and he wasn’t saying nothing. Nobody in the car wasn’t saying nothing.”

Alleyne said he couldn’t see whether Williams had anything in his hand at the time he was over the other man because he saw him at a distance. 

“So I couldn’t really see if he had something in he hand or not,” the witness said.

Alleyne said that later that night, Williams came to his house.

“I tell he that if he know that de man dead. I hear that de man dead the evening time. He tell me yeh that he know de man dead. He tell me that to don’t worry bout nothing just do what he say. . . that when it come to this . . . I don’t know nothing. . . and anybody ask me anything, I ain’t carry he in de Pine,” he testified.

The witness further told the court that when he got home, there was blood in his car, in the back where Williams was seated.

“I ain’t do nothing with it. When I come home, I ain’t clean out the car or nothing. The police had the car the next day,” he said.

Under cross-examination by Mitchell-Gittens, Alleyne admitted that he did not see who the accused was fighting with that day.

Following his testimony, the court took a break and the defence returned with a submission for Williams to be re-arraigned.

Earlier, before Alleyne took the stand, lead investigator Frank Olton said he questioned Williams about Small’s murder on March 27, 2018 after telling him of his rights.

The officer said he told Williams that Small succumbed to his injuries at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He also told Williams he suspected that he was involved in the fatal stabbing.

Williams, the officer said, replied: “Man I ain”t know nothing about that body death. I ain’t went nowhere in the Pine and I ain’t see that boy since he shoot me.”

The now-convicted man, who remains on remand, will reappear before Justice Greaves for sentencing on June 23.