Mugshot of Louwana St. Noire. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST. THOMAS — A retired, long-time resident of St. Thomas assaulted her intimate partner with a knife during a verbal altercation over food Friday evening. The victim does not wish to press charges.
Louwana St. Noire, 69, appeared before Magistrate Judge Henry Carr via teleconference from the Bureau of Corrections on Monday for her advisement hearing. This was St. Noire’s first contact with the criminal justice system.
St. Noire was charged with third-degree assault—namely, assault with a deadly weapon— as an act of domestic violence.
According to the probable cause fact sheet, the suspect told police when they arrived around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, “We were arguing, and we both cut each other with a knife.”
St. Noire twice refused giving a statement to police; however, she did provide them with the events preceding the assault. The fact sheet said that an argument over food began. The victim gave her some food. She didn’t want it, so she placed it on the counter. St. Noire told police that both her and the victim grabbed the knife and fought over it. St. Noire claims that she got cut and then she hit the victim with the flat part of the knife, resulting in a lot of blood. The fact sheet said that the victim suffered an arterial bleed but is now stable. St. Noire attempted to assist the victim to stop the bleeding and reached out to several people to call 911 on her behalf, she said.
According to the fact sheet and representation by Attorney Mary Ann Matney, the victim does not intend to press charges. Attn. Matney also said that the victim turned in a letter stating the same to the Attorney General’s office.
Judge Carr asked St. Noire if upon release she would not commit any acts of violence against the victim again.
St. Noire replied, “Absolutely. It was an accident. It’ll never happen again.”
“Despite the seriousness of this injury and the weapon that was involved—and the fact that there will be no acts of retribution, no acts of assault on [the victim], no acts of any violence upon [the victim] and your word that this would never, never happen again, I’m going to release you upon execution of an unsecured appearance bond for the sum of $25,000,” Judge Carr said as the two reasons he made his ruling. He stressed that he was giving St. Noire a break.
Therefore, Judge Carr set the following release conditions for St. Noire:
- Execute an unsecured appearance bond of $25,000
- No unlawful contact with the victim
- Surrender passport
- Prohibited from leaving the STT/ STJ jurisdiction without prior permission of the court
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