Mugshot of Helen Cuellar Iriarte. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT.
ST. THOMAS — A woman who admitted to smashing the windshield of her husband’s truck faces domestic violence charges in court.
According to the probable cause fact sheet presented in court, just before 9:00 p.m. on May 12, a police officer was dispatched to a housing complex in Contant, where they met a man who told them that his wife had attacked him and their truck. He said that Helen Cuellar Iriarte had called him to say that she needed money, and so he went to the bank across the street from their home to get the requested funds. Police heard that the man went to meet someone else he had to pay, then returned home and parked his truck in the parking lot of the complex before walking over to his house.
There, the man said he found his wife sitting in the driver’s seat of their SUV. The man said Iriarte appeared intoxicated, therefore he reached in and grabbed onto the steering wheel in an attempt to prevent her from driving off. However, she reportedly stabbed him several times in the right shoulder with the vehicle’s key before starting to chase him. Thus, he retreated and went back to his truck, where he called the police.
Standing between some parked vehicles in an attempt to evade detection by his angry wife, the man said he then saw her take a metal rod and attack the windshield of his parked truck. His left side mirror also took some damage from the woman’s blows.
Police discovered that this is an ongoing situation between the couple which has resulted in several previous calls to the police. This time, Helen Iriarte was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and destruction of property, both as crimes of domestic violence. She also faces one count of disturbance of the peace. Because of the territory’s domestic violence laws, Iriarte was not initially eligible for bail, and thus spent the weekend in the custody of the Bureau of Corrections before her advice of rights hearing on Monday.
Following Monday’s hearing, public court records indicate that Iriarte was offered pretrial release, the details of which were not available at time of publication.
Advertisements
