Mugshot of Gabriel Toussaint. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — A man was arrested after his girlfriend reported an inappropriate relationship with a 15-year old girl, documents provided in court have made known.
According to the affidavit, the girl's mother approached police back in April, reporting that her minor daughter had been sexually assaulted by Gabriel Toussaint, age 50. Toussaint's girlfriend had reached out via text and voice note, seeking to contact her urgently. The girlfriend voiced her suspicions that Toussaint was doing “something sick” to the other woman's 15-year old daughter.
The woman said she questioned her daughter about the allegations almost immediately, but the child began to display signs of an anxiety attack. The following day, the teenager admitted to being sexually assaulted by Toussaint. A few days afterward, the girl reportedly began to disclose more information to her mother.
The sexual abuse had begun months earlier, she said. Toussaint, a relative, would pick her and her siblings up from their home and drop them at their grandmother's house. He would return for her only, and use the opportunity to abuse her when they were alone together. During the first incident, the girl said that he touched her inappropriately. The assaults, however, escalated to penetration over time.
Upon learning of her daughter's abuse at the hands of her older relative, the mother said she questioned her other daughters as well and to her horror, learned that they had also allegedly been assaulted by Toussaint. The mother disclosed to police that the older man had tried to touch her as well, when she was younger.
The 15-year old gave police her recollection of the most recent incident of assault. She described how she was doing homework when Toussaint came to the house and told her to leave her work for later because he needed her to fold his laundry; a common request, she said. He drove her to his house and she folded the clothing as instructed. Once she was done, she sat to use her phone, and recalled how Toussaint then sexually assaulted her, the report alleges.
Toussaint's girlfriend came home shortly afterwards and began arguing. The older man tried to get the 15-year old out of the house surreptitiously, but the girlfriend spotted her hiding outside and questioned her, subsequently alerting her mother and setting off the chain of events that led to Toussaint's arrest, according to the affidavit.
About a month later, the older sister of the 15-year-old came forward to police with her own account of abuse. She explained that before her younger sibling, Toussaint had involved her under the guise of offering help with a skin condition. What began as seemingly innocent gestures of massage gradually turned inappropriate, making her increasingly uncomfortable. When she tried to distance herself, Toussaint confronted her at her home, after which the troubling behavior resumed and escalated further.
She told investigators that the troubling behavior continued after the confrontation and eventually progressed into sexual abuse. Although she confided in her boyfriend at the time—who urged her to speak with her parents and the police—she chose not to disclose the incidents until later.
In June, another young relative of Toussaint's told police that he had molested her, allegedly over a hundred times over the course of four years. Between 9th and 12th grade, she told officers, her relative would assault her “almost every other day.” Her attempts to resist him resulted in escalating aggression from him, she told police.
After months of investigation, Toussaint was arrested on Monday afternoon. “Why did they wait so late,” he reportedly asked when advised of the allegations against him by his three young relatives. After declining to give a statement, he was charged with second-degree rape, second-degree aggravated rape, and unlawful sexual contact as crimes of domestic violence, along with child abuse and aggravated child abuse. He was remanded into custody to await his first court appearance.
Although court records indicate that Toussaint's advice of rights hearing, scheduled for Tuesday before Magistrate Paula Norkaitis, was indeed held, as of press time there is no indication of the outcome of that hearing, including what bail conditions may have been imposed. His next court appearance has been scheduled for September 19.
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