Category Archives: Press Release

(U.S. Virgin Islands)- V.I. Attorney General Denise George announces that Enoch Justin Cole was sentenced to 30 years for his conviction of murder, assault, and robbery charges for the brutal 2015 murder of 73-year-old Augustus Bannis in the vicinity of David Hamilton Jackson Park, St. Croix. Superior Court Judge Harold Willocks sentenced Cole on Wednesday February 16, to 30 years imprisonment for Second Degree Murder.

On Wednesday, December 4, 2019, a jury returned the verdict after deliberating for 45 minutes finding both Cole and co-defendant, Avondale George guilty of 2nd -degree murder, 1st -degree assault, 1st -degree robbery, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. Cole and George aided and abetted each other in the perpetration of the robbery, taking Bannis’s vehicle against his will and brutally beating him in the process. On that fateful day, Bannis left his home in Estate Upper Love and headed to the park.

According to an affidavit, an officer stated that he arrived on the scene and found Bannis laying on the ground face up with what appeared to be blood pooled in the collar of his shirt. EMTs transported Bannis to the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital where he was listed as unconscious but in stable condition. George and Cole struck Bannis in the head and repeatedly kicked him about the body, causing a blunt head injury and his subsequent death on October 19, 2015.

He remained in a comatose state and two months later, on Oct. 19, he succumbed to his wounds at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He died as a result of “delayed complications of blunt head injury.” George and Cole were arrested in November of 2015. Bannis was a former pastor of the First Baptist Church in Salisbury, Dominica for 18 years before relocating to St. Croix for 10 years. He served as a Deacon at the Calvary Baptist Church on St. Croix where he taught Sunday School, bible school, mentored the young, and assisted the elderly.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2022
Sandra Goomansingh
Media Relations Director
(340)774-5666 ext. 10105
Email: Sandra.goomansingh@doj.vi.gov

(U.S. Virgin Islands)- V.I. Attorney General Denise George announces that Akeem Stanley was sentenced for his role in the murder of Emile Brin in 2018. V.I. Superior Court Judge Harold Willocks sentenced Stanley on Wednesday, February 16, to 23 years imprisonment for Second Degree Murder. On July 16, 2018, officers received a report from the mother of Emile Brin stating that her 22- year-old son was missing.

U.S. Virgin Islands)- V.I. Attorney General Denise George announces formal criminal charges filed and the arrest of Mario Magras of St. Croix, who was arrested on a warrant today. The office of the Attorney General filed a ten-count Information against Magras including 1st-degree attempted murder,1st-degree assault, mayhem, unauthorized possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, discharging or aiming firearms, 1st-degree reckless endangerment, and unauthorized possession of ammunition.

The 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report revealed that Virgin Islands federal courts handled the highest number of sex trafficking cases than any other state in the United States, on a per capita basis. (U.S. Virgin Islands)- V.I. Attorney General Denise George announced a collaboration with the national child protection thinktank, CHILD USA, local and federal law enforcement agencies as well as victim services organizations in the Virgin Islands to spearhead programs to combat human trafficking crimes that have plagued the Virgin Islands for years.

(U.S. Virgin Islands)- V.I. Attorney General Denise George has announced the arrest of Cameron J. Rolle of Orlando, Florida, who was arrested on January 06, 2021, at the Cyril E. King Airport (CEKA) after sixteen (16) pounds or 7.33 kilograms of marijuana was discovered in his checked luggage.