The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was arraigned yesterday in connection with the September 9 killing of schoolteacher Marisha Bowen.

Alister Williams, 30, stood before Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes for the murder of Ms Bowen, a native of Guyana who had taught at Charles W Saunders Baptist School since 2014.

She was found lifeless with a slit throat shortly after 8am on the day in question in her apartment by other tenants of a complex on Read Sea Road, off Sumner Street, according to initial reports. She was also pregnant.

Williams was told that he would not be allowed to enter a plea to the charge until he is formally arraigned before a judge in the Supreme Court.

He is also set to return to Magistrate’s Court on October 24 for a presentation of a voluntary bill of indictment, which will facilitate the transfer of the case to the higher court.

Before he was remanded to prison to await trial, his lawyer Nathan Smith made allegations that his client “suffered significant injuries while in police custody”.

“Has he been seen by a physician?” the chief magistrate asked.

Mr Smith said no, notwithstanding his request. Chief Magistrate Forbes made a note for Williams to be seen by a physician at the prison but could not oblige Smith’s subsequent request that his client be detained at the sick bay in the interim.

Williams will have to apply for bail at the Supreme Court if he desires a bond ahead of trial.