Mugshot of Susan DeJesus. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. CROIX — Susan DeJesus faces felony domestic violence charges after police said an argument over suspected infidelity escalated into her chasing her longtime caretaker and intimate partner with an iron pipe and later striking him in the ribs with a second piece of metal.
Magistrate Christopher Timmons found probable cause Thursday to uphold charges of third-degree assault and simple assault and battery as crimes of domestic violence, along with disturbance of the peace.
Bail was set at $25,000, with DeJesus required to post $1,000 in cash to secure her release before trial. Her next court appearance is scheduled for August 19.
The investigation began July 27, when police were sent to Juan F. Luis Hospital to investigate an assault. Officers met DeJesus, who was receiving treatment for a longstanding medical condition.
She told police that she suspected her caretaker of more than 35 years, who is also her intimate partner, of being unfaithful. DeJesus said she had pushed him in the chest during an argument several days earlier.
Officers stopped the interview and informed her that she would need to be advised of her rights before continuing. Before leaving, they observed scratches on her biceps and a minor abrasion near her left buttock.
DeJesus went to the police station several days later to provide a formal statement.
She told investigators that she and her partner had argued about his alleged infidelity before she pushed him in the chest and armed herself with a length of metal piping. DeJesus admitted chasing him and throwing the pipe, but said it missed him.
According to her account, the man then grabbed her by the arms and threw her to the ground.
DeJesus also told police that her partner owned two unregistered firearms, although she said he did not use them during the altercation.
Investigators subsequently determined that the man had been licensed to possess a firearm and ammunition in the Virgin Islands, but that the license had expired. Police advised him to surrender the weapons, which he did before providing his own formal statement.
The man told investigators that the confrontation began after he returned from the store and DeJesus again accused him of being unfaithful.
Frustrated by the accusations, he said he falsely told her that he had cheated with a female friend while he was supposedly shopping.
According to his account, the statement enraged DeJesus, who pushed him in the chest, grabbed an iron pipe and chased him around his workshop.
He said she threw the pipe at him but missed, then picked up another length of metal and struck him in the ribs. The man told police that he disarmed DeJesus and pushed her to the ground while her elderly mother cried and pleaded with her to stop.
He also said he had begun storing his firearms away from the residence because he feared DeJesus’s behavior.
Police observed a laceration on the man’s abdomen that he said resulted from the altercation.
DeJesus was arrested Wednesday and remanded into custody pending Thursday’s advice of rights hearing.
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