Police say the city man arrested for trying to set fire to his ex-girlfriend’s house — while she was inside with a friend — had been stalking and threatening her, according to statements made by the terrified victim.
The 25-year-old woman, along with a 27-year-old female friend, police said, rushed into DeAvila’s Catering at 137 Weir St. at around 9:45 a.m. Thursday asking that someone there call 911 to report a fire at the three-story house on Somerset Avenue.
Police say Sgt. Matthew McCaffrey, who was in the restaurant having breakfast, called the on-duty dispatcher and requested a patrol car be sent to the scene.
When police arrived at the nearby residence, they say they observed firefighters putting out a fire under a rear porch on the south side of the large, wooden structure.
The fire deputy chief on scene, police said, told them that they’d found a propane tank wedged between the porch and house. The tank, he said, had been removed from a nearby cooking grill, police said.
“Oh my God, he tried to kill me,†said the woman allegedly targeted, who was standing outside with her friend.
Police said firefighters quickly determined that there were four other spots against the house where fires had been set.
The victim’s former beau was shortly thereafter apprehended without incident by a police officer about 100 yards from the house.
He was identified as 30-year-old Shemroy Williams, last known address 42 Weir St., Apt. 306.
Williams was charged with arson of a dwelling and malicious destruction of property over $250.
He was arraigned in Taunton District Court and ordered held without bail pending a status hearing on Monday with his court-appointed lawyer, Kenneth Fredette.
The distraught woman, police said, claimed that Williams, with whom she’d previously had a romantic relationship, had been stalking her.
Williams, she said, had destroyed her cellphone, told her he thinks about killing her and had damaged her car by cutting undercarriage wires that he might have thought was a brake line, police said.
Both women allegedly told police they realized Williams was on the premises while they were eating breakfast and he began banging on the house, shouting the victim’s name.
The women told police they decided to leave and drive away in the hope that Williams would leave.
But after parking on an adjacent street and going back inside, the women, police said, realized he had returned. They also told police they then smelled smoke.
The two allegedly told police that they initially grabbed dishes, which they tried using to extinguish the porch blaze, before running down the hill to DeAvila’s to call 911.
FIRST PUBLISHED UN GUYANAPRESS.COM
The only prior criminal record in Taunton District Court for the Guyana-born Williams was a guilty plea in 2010 for possession to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced to serve three months with 14 days jail credit in the house of correction.
