Inmate reprimanded moments before death

BVI News Online has been informed that, moments before US Virgin Islands native Treh Williams was found hanging in his cell at Her Majesty’s Prison, he was refusing to eat, and was reprimanded for not obeying certain instructions.

Reports from highly placed sources are that prison authorities were concerned about his behaviour, and that prompted them to have two of the deceased man’s close relatives try to cheer him up.

The two relatives, who are also inmates at the correctional facility, were brought to Williams’ cell.

When they left, Williams reportedly continued to disobey certain instructions.

Hours later, a correctional officer visited his cell in the maximum security section of the prison, and found him hanging from an area above the entrance.

A ‘prison’ shirt was wrapped around his neck.

The matter was reported to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, which visited the prison and launched an investigation.

It is said that Williams was acting ‘strange’, and also cried the night before he died.

Meanwhile, last month, Williams was ordered to spend six months in prison regarding a case of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and being armed with an offensive weapon.

He was convicted after he attacked a man with a cutlass from behind.

Reports are that, about 8am on February 1, Williams went to a car wash in Road Town where the male victim works.

He asked the victim questions regarding the whereabouts of a certain woman, but the victim said he did not know the answer.

The court heard that Williams left the area.

Shortly afterwards, he returned and approached the victim from behind, then slapped the victim across the shoulder with the flat of a cutlass.

The victim immediately ran, and Williams gave chase while still clutching the weapon.

The court was told that the victim picked up a rock to defend himself.

Williams then dropped the cutlass and sprinted away.

The victim sustained a ‘long’ laceration to his left shoulder, and was treated at Peebles Hospital.

Williams was arrested the following day.

During one of his court appearances, Williams told Senior Magistrate Tamia Richards that he attacked the victim because he (the victim) started to ‘hyperventilate’ in a threatening manner during their conversation on the day in question.

“I honestly thought he was going to do me something [and] so I protected myself,” Williams told the court.