A High Court judge has sentenced a former police officer to four years in jail after he was found guilty of trying to intimidate a woman into trading sex for her freedom.
Justice Renae McKay also imposed a two year probation on Shaquille Williamson, who had been fired after he was convicted of procuration on June 4. The unmarried father of two will also serve an additional year in prison if he violates the terms of his probation.
The conviction stems from an incident that occurred on July 5, 2023 when during the early hours of the morning the woman and her boyfriend were having sex on the hood of a car when they were startled by a patrol car’s flashing lights.
They scrambled to get dressed, and Williamson, who was in a marked patrol car, ran a name check on them.
The court heard that while he told the woman’s boyfriend that he had no outstanding matters, she had an outstanding warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket.
Williamson suggested that he could make the warrant go away if the woman went with him.
When she told him that she had just had sex with her boyfriend, he allegedly said, ‘I don’t care.’
The woman made a panicked call to Police Control Room while Williamson was talking to her boyfriend. A patrol unit came and Williamson was arrested.
But Williamson said that it was the woman who had suggested swapping sex for her freedom.
Justice McKay in handing down the sentence, said Williamson would have to live with the consequences of his actions, given the publicity surrounding the case.
But she said that a clear message needed to be sent to members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and other military, that to whom much is given, much is required.