February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Roy Williams, 32, of Queens, was picked up by detectives and state parole oficers at his girlfriend’s home in the Bronx Tuesday night after robbing a bank hours earlier.
Sr. Margaret Faherty has been recovering at the Immaculate Conception convent in Jamaica Estates since being released from the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens last Thursday.
Speaking over the phone to the Echo, Faherty said she was feeling “much better” since the incident last Wednesday.
Faherty, 69, was parked outside the convent on Midland Parkway at 7 a.m. and was getting ready to drive to work at Msgr. McClancy Memorial High School in East Elmhurst, where she is a librarian.
She was wiping leaves off the windshield of her car when a man came up to her and ordered her to give him the keys. She refused, and the man hit her across the face with a pistol. He took off in her car, a 2000 Nissan, which was later recovered in Jamaica.
Faherty suffered a broken nose, and needed nine stitches to close a cut in her cheek.
Police noted Sr. Faherty’s valuable cooperation. News reports surfaced about the “feisty” nun who fought off her assailant.
“I hate that word,” Faherty said, laughing. “I would prefer ‘spirited.’ “
Cops believe Williams may be the same man who robbed and raped a 34-year-old woman in a nearby area the previous day. He is also a suspect in two bank heists in the past week.
Detectives used DNA evidence from the rape victim’s car while searching for the suspect, sources said.
Faherty said she does not have a timeline for getting back to work.
“My principal told me to come back when I feel better,” she said, “and I will.”