Man gets 55 years for murder of pregnant woman

A murderer who strangled a pregnant woman and stabbed her in the neck six times has been sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Alister Williams, 34, was linked to the September 2016 murder of 35-year-old teacher Marisha Bowen through DNA.

The brutal murder took place soon after Williams was released from prison for an unspecified crime.

Bowen, originally from Guyana, was found naked in a blood-soaked bed with a belt around her neck in her apartment on Red Sea Road.

Williams’ DNA was found under her fingernails, in blood near the bedroom door and her vagina.

In the absence of a confession, it’s not known whether Williams raped Bowen before he murdered her or if he had sex with her corpse.

When police arrested Williams, they found him with two Samsung phones — one of them belonged to Bowen, the other to her son.

Despite this, Williams denied killing mom-of-two Bowen or taking her belongings.

Although putting himself on the crime scene, Williams blamed an unidentified person for the murder and robbery.

Nevertheless, a jury unanimously convicted Williams of murder and robbery on May 24, 2018.

However, Williams’ sentencing didn’t take place until December 17, 2020 because of delays in getting probation and psychiatric reports.

Williams also fired Public Defender Stanley Rolle on October 3, 2018; and Christina Galanos, his new court-appointed lawyer, needed time to take instructions and to acquaint herself with the case.

Psychiatrist Dr. John Dillet said that Williams showed no evidence of psychiatric disorder. In his opinion, there was no evidence that Williams could not be reformed.

By contrast, probation officer Matrena Carey said that Williams was incapable of reform.

Carey noted that Williams’ violent criminal history began from adolescence and had escalated to murder.

The mother of Williams’ only child told the probation officer that he was “extremely physically abusive” and she accused him of trying to rape her friend. Additionally, the report read, “It was general consensus in the neighborhood that he is a criminal and sexual predator.”

Pointing to Williams’ lack of remorse and violent history, the prosecutor, Rodger Thompson, asked Justice Carolita Bethell to put Williams to death. On the other hand, Galanos suggested that a prison sentence in the range of 30 to 60 years was appropriate.

However, Bethell declined to impose a death sentence, saying that the “horrific and gruesome” murder did not fall into the category of the “worst of the worst.”

However, she said that he required a lengthy sentence as he was likely to reoffend.

Bethell sentenced Williams to concurrent sentences of 55 years for murder and 10 years for robbery.

The sentences take effect from his conviction in May 2018.

Senior Justice Bernard Turner delivered the sentencing decision for Bethell, who was appointed to the Court of Appeal in August.

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