U.S. Virgin Islands – V.I. Attorney General Nominee Gordon C. Rhea announced that a V.I. Superior Court jury has found Ramon A. Ledesma German guilty of felony assault, following a machete attack that resulted in injuries to Nilvo Mateo.
After a 3-day trial, the jury delivered a guilty verdict on Thursday September 26, 2024. German was charged with Felony Assault in the Third Degree (Assault with a dangerous/deadly weapon) and the Use of a Dangerous/Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Crime of Violence.
On Oct. 8, 2023, while at a restaurant on St. Thomas, German attacked Mateo with a machete repeatedly about the head and hand, requiring medical treatment and closure of the wounds by stitches and staples. Evidence at trial including testimony from the victim, graphic photographs of the injury to the victim’s hand, and testimony from multiple eyewitness, show that after an initial altercation, the Defendant went to his vehicle, retrieved a machete, and used the weapon to assault Mr. Mateo.
AG Nominee Rhea expressed gratitude to everyone involved for their hard work, including prosecutor Ramiro Orozco, Esq., Assistant Attorney General from the St. Thomas/St. John District of the Criminal Division, as well as the DOJ Litigation and Victim Services Teams and the Virgin Islands Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, who investigated the case.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2024
Sandra Goomansingh
Media Relations Director
(340) 774-5666 ext. 10105
Email: sandra.goomansingh@doj.vi.gov