DEATH row inmate, Mark Royden Williams, called ‘Smallie’, was, on Friday, found guilty of killing a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer in 2008.

Williams, formerly of Friendship, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was on trial before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the Demerara High Court.

He had denied murdering the GDF rank, 24-year-old Ivor Williams on January 23, 2008, at Buxton, ECD.

After deliberating for two hours, the jury returned with a guilty verdict against Williams for murder.

The case has been adjourned to September 1, 2022.

A probation report on Williams will be presented to the Court. He will subsequently be sentenced.

The state was represented by prosecutors Taneisha Saygon and Muntaz Ali, while attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes is on record as defence counsel for Williams.

In 2020, Williams’ co-accused Sherwin Nero, called ‘Pattacake’, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, when he was arraigned for murder.

Nero was sentenced to time served since he had already spent 154 months on remand.

Meanwhile, in 2019, Nero and Williams were freed of the 2007 murder of Kumar “Mango Man” Singh after a 12-member jury found them not guilty of committing the act.

In February 2017, Williams was sentenced to death when a jury found him guilty of eight counts of murder in relation to the 2008 Bartica massacre in which a dozen persons, including three police officers, were shot dead.

He has since appealed that conviction.

Several months later, in July 2017, Williams escaped from the prison at Camp Street, Georgetown during a riot. It is believed that he was the mastermind.

Williams, however, was nabbed on October 9, 2017, at Weldaad, West Coast Berbice (WCB), while travelling in a public minibus.

In 2013, Williams was acquitted after a 12-member jury found him not guilty of the charges against him in relation to the 2008 Lusignan massacre, which claimed the lives of 11 persons, including five children.

The matter was appealed to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which in 2018, affirmed the acquittal of Williams.