- Has been jailed for a minimum of 19 months
A semi-professional basketballer effectively confessed to raping a close friend in a chilling text message sent just moments after the attack.
Roosevelt Williams Jr, a 23-year-old Willetton Tigers guard in WA’s NBL1 competition, has been jailed for three years and two months over the August 2023 assault.
The District Court heard Williams had been back in Perth on a break from studying and playing basketball at a US college when the incident occurred.
On the night of the attack, Williams had been out with the victim, who was a friend, at a party in Fremantle.
As she became severely intoxicated, he reassured others he would get her home safely, ordering an Uber to her parents’ house and taking responsibility for her care.
But once inside, the court heard he began having sex with her despite her being too drunk to consent, only stopping when he realised she was bleeding.
Roosevelt Williams Jr will serve at least 19 months behind bars after he was found guilty of raping a friend after a party
In the hours that followed, Williams sent a message to friends that would later become crucial evidence.
‘Lowkey shouldn’t have tbh, she’s so drunk, but I have f***ed her before,’ one text read.
Judge Mark Ritter said the message demonstrated Williams was fully aware of the victim’s vulnerability.
‘You clearly overall put your own sexual desires and gratification way above the interests of [the victim] as a person and a friend,’ he said.
‘You were there to look after her, but instead you abused her. She was not capable of consenting.’
Despite the admission in private, Williams denied having sex with the woman when she confronted him the next morning after waking in pain and bleeding.
He later repeated those denials in a recorded phone call with police and attempted to mislead investigators following his arrest.
‘Overall, you tried to minimise what you had done,’ Judge Ritter said.
The court heard the NBL1 basketball player from Western Australia sent a text message after the assault
The judge delivered a scathing assessment of the offending, telling Williams: ‘Your offence involved the violation of her body and integrity.’
‘You really used her as a sexual piece of meat, not as a young woman with rights that she was entitled to have respected.’
The court also heard the devastating impact on the victim, who detailed ongoing trauma in her victim impact statement, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, sleep disturbances and suicidal thoughts.
Williams had been pursuing a professional basketball career and was studying at Peninsula College in the United States at the time of the offence.
His lawyer said the sport had been his passion, but his career has since stalled following his guilty plea.
He changed his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial in November 2025.
Judge Ritter said Williams had shown ‘some belated remorse’, but it came too late to carry significant weight.
Williams will serve at least 19 months behind bars and will be eligible for parole in October 2027.
