A violent fatal attack in the quiet community of Diamond, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), has thrown a long-simmering public health and safety crisis into the national spotlight. On Tuesday afternoon, 60-year-old Roseclair Williams—a well-known prophetess affiliated with the Victory Kingdom Covenant Ministries Int’l based in Diamond—was killed in her own yard. Her body was discovered shortly after 1 p.m., bearing clear signs of multiple stab wounds, launching an immediate police investigation.
Authorities reviewing closed-circuit security footage from the surrounding area confirmed the suspect attacked Williams while she tended to plants in her private garden. Law enforcement has since identified the accused as Branson Prince, a local man with a documented history of mental illness, who has been taken into custody. Prince is currently receiving mandatory health assessments at a local medical facility, as authorities work to process the case through the SVG judicial system.
This killing marks the 14th homicide recorded in SVG since the start of the year. What makes this case particularly resonant is its timing: it came on the same day that Chief Magistrate Colin John delivered a landmark ruling rejecting a mental competency report prepared for another high-profile accused person with mental illness. The judge ruled the document inadmissible because it had been prepared by a non-qualified clinician.
The question of mental health assessment competency in SVG emerged into public view on Thursday, when defense attorney Grant Connell challenged the professional qualifications of three clinicians from the country’s Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre (MHC), located in Glen. Connell is providing pro bono legal representation for Kesroy Williams, a Belair resident with a diagnosed schizophrenic condition who faces a second set of firearms charges in 18 months. Kesroy Williams is accused of illegally possessing a modified .32-caliber firearm and three matching rounds of ammunition during a February 6 search of his home.
In court this week, the three MHC clinicians—Dr. Alisa Alvis, Dr. Micheal Stowe, and Dr. Franklyn Joseph—confirmed publicly that none hold credentials as qualified psychiatrists. Alvis further clarified that while she holds a PhD in psychology, she is not a licensed clinical physician authorized to prescribe psychiatric medication. Connell also told the court that all competency reports issued by the MHC shared nearly identical language, even when prepared for patients with drastically different mental health profiles, raising serious questions about the credibility of the country’s current assessment system.
This is not the first time Kesroy Williams has faced legal consequences for illegal weapons possession. In December 2024, he pleaded guilty to possessing a .38-caliber pistol and three rounds of ammunition, and was sentenced to prison. That guilty plea was only accepted by the court after the MHC issued a report confirming he was mentally fit to enter a plea. During that 2024 proceeding, court documents revealed Kesroy Williams told arresting officers he owned two firearms: “one for a wedding” and “one for a funeral,” and only agreed to surrender one weapon after officers promised to return it to him following the case. When he was sentenced, he even asked the court to confirm the gun would be returned to him once his sentence was completed.
Following this week’s inadmissible ruling, Chief Magistrate John ordered that Kesroy Williams be transferred back to the MHC for a new assessment conducted by a qualified psychiatrist, with a full report due to the court ahead of his next hearing scheduled for May 30. Beyond the immediate case, the proceeding has pulled back the curtain on a decades-long gap in SVG’s mental health system: the country has gone more than 10 years without a full-time, practicing psychiatrist on staff, leaving a critical gap in mental healthcare and judicial competency assessments across the country.