Mugshot of Nelson Navarro Jr. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. CROIX — In St. Croix, a man faces serious assault and burglary charges after his former partner reported a terrifying night of physical and emotional abuse at her Frederiksted home.
Court records detail a sequence of events beginning Friday evening with alleged property damage and vehicle theft, escalating early Saturday to an uninvited entry, strangulation, and further violence in the presence of their child. The following account outlines the woman’s statements to police, the observed evidence, the suspect’s denial, and the resulting charges.
According to court records, police were alerted Saturday to an assault that had occurred the previous night at a Frederiksted residence. Officers met the woman, who identified herself as the victim.
She told them she had been in a three-year relationship with Nelson Navarro Jr. that ended because she could no longer tolerate his verbal, physical, and emotional abuse. The couple share a child, so she had tried to keep relations amicable.
On Friday, Navarro called to ask for a ride, saying that he was in Frederiksted. She drove to his location to pick him up, and said that he immediately threw an empty beer bottle at the windscreen of her SUV, damaging it. Navarro reportedly followed up by reaching inside the vehicle to grab the keys before leaving with them.
The woman, infant in tow, drove to the fire station and was advised to call 911. The dispatcher reportedly advised her to drive home, which she did.
She was sleeping in her living room around 10:30 Friday night when the sound of a vehicle playing loud music woke her up. A relative of Navarro was dropping him off, and the woman told police that she watched her child's father get into her vehicle and drive off. She showed officers footage of the incident from her phone, where she is heard stating that he is not allowed to leave with the SUV.
The woman said that Navarro came back early Saturday morning. She and the baby were sleeping when she heard the vehicle pull up. Moments later, she heard someone at the door shaking it. Navarro began asking her to open the door, reportedly using derogatory language. The door, weakened from prior damage caused by him, opened up under the pressure and Navarro reportedly came inside, uninvited.
The woman said he immediately began accusing her of having another man in the house. The screaming and punching of walls eventually woke up the child, but Navarro reportedly was undeterred. In fact, the woman said he escalated the violence by assaulting her, grabbing her neck and squeezing while slapping her in the face. He reportedly taunted her while he strangled her as well, before realizing that she could not breathe and released his hold.
Ignoring her pleas for him to leave, he then reportedly settled down and went to sleep, giving the woman the opportunity to run outside to all the police.
Officers say the visibly distressed woman had bruising on both sides of her face and discoloration around her neck area. The sheetrock walls of the home showed damage where a fist might have gone through it, police say. The windshield of the woman's vehicle was also damaged.
When Navarro was detained and questioned, he told officers that he went out to celebrate Halloween, and that when he returned, the mother of his child was upset and created a disturbance. He denied assaulting the woman or causing damage to her property.
Nevertheless, he was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, simple assault, and disturbance of the peace as crimes of domestic violence, along with first-degree burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Navarro was remanded into custody to await his advice of rights hearing.
His first court appearance was scheduled for Monday before Magistrate Yolan Brow Ross. However, as of press time public court records do not indicate whether the hearing was held, or if so, the outcome.
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