ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A 32-year-old man appeared before a judge in provincial court in St. John's late Friday afternoon, charged with beating accused murderer Steven Bragg in the face with a guitar.
William John Oliver has been charged with assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and breaching a court order in relation to the beating, which is said to have happened in Her Majesty's Penitentiary on Monday.
Bragg reportedly received significant injuries to his face and spent some time in hospital before returning to the prison with stitches.
Oliver is in custody on remand on 21 previous charges, for which he had made a video appearance in a different courtroom earlier in the day Friday. Those charges consist mainly of alleged court order breaches, as well as one charge each of assault causing bodily harm, assault, uttering threats to damage or destroy property, mischief by damaging property and failing to attend court.
He will make his next appearance on all his charges May 10.
Bragg, 36, is being held at Her Majesty's Penitentiary on remand pending his first-degree murder trial, which is scheduled to happen in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court over six weeks beginning Jan. 20, 2020.
He is alleged to have murdered 36-year-old Victoria (Vicky) Head, a native of Placentia and a mother of one, in the fall of 2017. Her body was located near O'Brien's Farm Road in the centre of St. John's on Nov. 11 of that year.
The next day, police issued a missing person appeal for Bragg, who was located a day after that. Bragg was originally charged with second-degree murder, but the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder two months later, after police unearthed new evidence in the case.
Police say Head and Bragg knew each other.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
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