Mugshot of Jephthe Christian. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — A man whose wife says he hit her for the first time in their two-year marriage is now facing domestic violence charges in court.
According to court documents, last Wednesday just before 4:00 a.m., police were summoned to a Frenchman’s Bay residence, where they met a woman who told them that her husband, Jephthe Christian, had punched her several times.
The previous afternoon, July 4, she and her husband had gone to his colleague’s party at a location near Vessup Beach. There, she told police he drank many alcoholic beverages. The pair returned home at around 3:00 a.m. Before going into the shower, the woman told police that she asked her husband a question, but could not recall what it was.
When she emerged from the shower, the woman said Christian punched her several times before dragging her out the bathroom by her hair. Shocked and terrified, the woman told police this was the first incidence of violence she had experienced in the couple’s two-year marriage.
When out of the bathroom, the woman said she screamed loudly enough that their neighbor could hear. It was that person who made the initial 911 call.
When police knocked on the window, Christian came outside clad only in a brown towel, seemingly intoxicated. Officers say that he was using obscene language, cursing at the police, and refusing to put on clothing so that he could be taken to the Richard Callwood police station and arrested. Instead, Christian threatened to get a gun he allegedly kept in this bathroom and shoot the officers, despite being informed several times that he was going to be arrested.
When officers moved to handcuff Christian, he became even more irate, pulling away from one of the arresting officers, who deployed her taser. The taser, however, was not very effective, according to court documents. A third officer was hit several times in the head during the fight, which prompted the first officer to address the scuffle with her baton.
Once Christian was subdued, forensic technicians took photographs of the woman’s injuries to her face and her left elbow area. Meanwhile, her husband was arrested and charged with simple assault as an act of domestic violence. He was also charged with disturbance of the peace, and aggravated assault and battery on officers.
He was remanded into custody until Friday, when he attended his first court hearing. Following Christian’s advice of rights hearing, Magistrate Judge Paula Norkaitis set bail at $1,000, which must be payable in cash. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 21.
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