Man accused of abducting wife, holding her in cave, finally granted bail

Roddy Williams – the man accused of having abducted his wife Natalie Williams and imprisoned her in a cave in Kalkara - was yesterday granted bail by Judge Antonio Mizzi, who is hearing the case.

Despite the prosecution’s objections to bail being granted, due to Williams having no ties to the community and being a flight risk, the judge released the accused on bail against a deposit of €30,000 and a personal guarantee of €50,000.

The defence made the argument that all testimony in the case had been heard, and the accused was innocent until proved guilty.

Williams, 37, from the Seychelles, was ordered to sign the bail book at the police station, every day between 8am to 8pm.

Natalie Williams, 46, had been discovered in an underground cavern in the Rinella area last November, her husband Roddy having admitted to causing her disappearance, when the police had intervened in an argument between the accused and his wife’s relatives in Triq is-Salvatur, Kalkara.

The woman had been missing for three days when she was found inside the cave, cold, dazed, and exposed to vermin inside the complex of underground rooms near the old Kalkara fortifications.

Lawyer Franco Debono, who together with lawyer Marion Camilleri is assisting Williams, had been insisting for his client to be released from custody for more than three months, dismissing a psychiatrist’s concerns about the woman’s mental health.

Williams had previously had several requests for bail denied on the grounds that the victim had not yet testified.

Natalie Williams had presented the court with medical certificates saying that she was unfit to testify. She was later found fit to give testimony.

On 26 February given a harrowing account of her husbands’s bullying, telling the court of the many times she had suffered beatings from him. She described how she had been powerless to refuse him sex while held captive in the dark and humid cave.

In a five-hour video conference, the woman had depicted the man whom she had filed separation proceedings against as a manipulative bully who would take her money, beat and rape her at will.