Mugshot of Vanbeverhoudt. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST. THOMAS — A St. Thomas man was accused of and admitted to hitting a woman with his hands on Monday in a domestic dispute. The suspect claims that the victim verbally threatened to have someone kill him on Friday, thus causing him to snap.
Jarome Vanbeverhoudt, 35, appeared before Magistrate Judge Henry Carr, III via teleconference for his advisement hearing on Friday. He was released on Wednesday on his own personal recognizance for medical reasons.
Vanbeverhoudt was charged with simple assault and battery as an act of domestic violence as well as disturbance of the peace.
According to the suspect’s statement to police, the victim and the suspect regularly argue. Upon seeing her on Monday, he said that the victim threatened to have someone kill him on Friday. After hearing that, he said that he snapped. The victim instigated a physical altercation by asking the suspect to hit her, in which he did to her head and admitted to doing so to officers, the fact sheet said.
On the other hand, the victim’s statement to police in the fact sheet said that an argument ensued over her wanting to smoke marijuana. Allegedly, the victim asked Vanbeverhoudt for his lighter. When he started walking towards the victim, the victim claimed that she got scared and took up a glass bottle of malt when the suspect came near her face, only to scare him. She said that she did not hit him with the bottle, the fact sheet said. The victim then put her head down in a crouch position and Vanbeverhoudt allegedly jumped and attacked her. The fact sheet also said that she was struck with open hands.
“What she did with that glass bottle, she didn’t inform the officers,” said the suspect’s attorney, Alexia Furlow of the Office of the Territorial Public Defender.
Prosecuting attorney John Barraco believed it to be clear that “the victim picked up the bottle because she was scared she was going to get hit, not [doing so] in an aggressive manner,” he said. In response, Attn. Furlow said, “She wasn’t scared when she was threatening him.”
Attorney Furlow of the Office of the Territorial Public Defender argued that probable cause should not be found for the assault on the victim. When officers came into contact with the suspect, he was walking away from the location where the incident took place, according to the fact sheet. “It would seem to me that Mr. Vanbeverhoudt had tried to deescalate the situation by leaving,” Attn. Furlow said.
Based on the fact sheet, “it seems that [the victim] is not the only alleged victim in this matter,” Attn. Furlow said. Attn. Furlow also pointed out that the female victim in this case was not arrested for her conduct or threats. “We ask that the law work when it comes to men and women when it comes to domestic violence,” Attn. Furlow stated, concluding her argument.
Attorney Barraco counter-argued, “The court is not here to decide whether or not The People should charge the victim in the case. The court is here to decide whether or not The People have presented evidence via the probable cause fact sheet that a crime has been committed.” He supported that there was sufficient probable cause to charge the suspect, drawing the courts attention to the injuries of the victim in photographs showing a busted lip and swollen cheek, according to the probable cause fact sheet.
The minimum bar was met, according to Judge Carr, to find probable cause for the assault charge. He ruled in favor of the prosecution.
Vanbeverhoudt will remain free on his own personal recognizance pending trial, and he was ordered by Judge Carr to have no unlawful contact with the alleged victim as conditions of his release.
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