Paul A. Reid, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A MAN, who claimed he was out of town when his wife was murdered in St. James, was actually placed in the parish by the cellular phone calls he allegedly made at the time the crime was committed.
Clarence Williams' claim that he had spoken to his American born spouse, Eleanor Hoyt-Williams, 49, on his cell phone from St. Catherine, was refuted by a Cable and Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) executive in court testimony yesterday.
According to Fraud Control Officer, Betty-Ann Harris, C&WJ has technology that can track the origins of cellular calls to within a two-mile radius in urban areas.
The company's system showed that all calls made by Williams between 8:45 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. on March 2 and three this year were processed by the cell tower at Lilliput, St James, a community that is practically next door to Barrett Hall where the couple lived.
Mrs. Hoyt-Williams was killed at home between March 2 and 3.
Mr. Williams had called the police at around 1:30 a.m. on March 3 to say he had returned from Kingston where he went to visit his son when he found his wife raped and murdered in their house in Barrett Hall. Subsequent to investigations, he was arrested and charged with her murder.
Justice of the Peace David Marzouca gave evidence yesterday that the couple had gone to him twice, once in June 2002 and again in December, for him to witness heir signatures on documents that would give Williams control of the house and two motor vehicles that Mrs. Williams had bought.
A clause in both documents said that in the event of Mrs. Williams' death, Mr. Williams would get everything.
The preliminary inquiry into the case started in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to commit the case to trial in the St. James Circuit Court.
So far, the prosecution, led by Crown Counsel Lambert Johnson, has called eight witnesses and will call another five, including the investigating officer, when the preliminary inquiry continues on January 5.
Yesterday, Ms. Harris, who has worked with C&WJ for 12 years, testified that each cell phone they sell comes with several numbers, including an electronic serial number that is critical to the activation of service.
ALL CALLS RECORDED
All calls, she said, are recorded for billing purposes and are relayed to a central switching station or 'base station'. All records, she said, were generated by computers with no manual input required.
She said that her company did not have 100 per cent cell coverage of the island, saying it was more like 90 per cent and explained that each call was picked up by the nearest cell tower and the information communicated back to base station.
The cell towers function on signal strength, depending on where the cell phone is in use at the time. Cell cites in the urban areas of Montego Bay and Kingston have an average coverage range of two miles, while those in rural areas had an average radius of up to six miles.While a neighbouring cell site can pick up the signal from a cell phone depending on the strength of the signal, it was unlikely that a call made in St. Catherine could be picked up in St. James, she told the court.
On March 10 this year, Ms. Harris said her office received a request from the police for information on a cell phone number which it turned out, was sold to Williams and activated in August 1999.
Based on the records that were generated between 8:45 p.m. on March 2 and 1:30 a.m. on March 3, Williams made two calls and both were processed by the cell site at Tower Hill.
Pathologist Dr Murari P. Seranji who also gave evidence, said based on his findings from a post mortem examination, Mrs. Williams' death appeared to be a homicide, and that she died as a result of serious wounds to her neck and the ingestion of pesticides and an analgesic drug.
