Woman charged with attempted murder in box cutter assault

ST. CROIX - A 27-year-old woman is facing a charge of attempted murder and the possibility of having her probation revoked after police said she attacked a man with a box cutter inside an Estate Castle Coakley nightclub Sunday morning.

Beryl Pedro of Estate Concordia appeared before Magistrate Judge Miguel Camacho on Tuesday morning and was advised of her rights on charges of attempted murder, first-degree assault, simple assault and battery, possession of a dangerous weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, disturbance of the peace by threats and grand larceny.

Pedro was advised that if she is convicted she could be sentenced to up to 70 years in prison.

According to police, this is not the first time Pedro was arrested for assaulting the same man. In June of 2011 she was charged with third-degree assault, after police said she struck the man in his head and body with a hammer outside his home after he tried to avoid a confrontation with her at a Christiansted club after she damaged his car with the hammer. Pedro pleaded guilty to simple assault and was sentenced to one-year probation in March.

She had also had one prior arrest for grand larceny and forgery in 2010 and was sentenced to one day in jail and placed on five years of probation in January of 2011.

Prosecutors said the Probation Office may seek to revoke her probation as a result of the subsequent conviction and now this additional arrest.

Regarding the altercation Sunday morning, the victim told police that he went to a dance at The Penthouse Roof Tops.

According to a probable cause-fact sheet filed by V.I. Police Detective Gregory Charlery, as the man was entering the dance with a female companion, he saw Pedro, who he has known for some time, standing near the door as if she was waiting for someone.

The victim said he and the woman went inside the dance, and seconds later, Pedro started pushing through the crowd toward them, according to the affidavit.

The man and his companion told police that Pedro began demanding money from him and caused a big commotion. The victim told police that he told Pedro to leave him alone, and she became more boisterous and grabbed his shirt and pulled him, the affidavit states.

Security officers at the dance pulled Pedro away, and as she was pulled away, she grabbed the man's gold chain, which he said is valued at more than $1,000, according to Charlery.

The man told police that he and the woman decided to leave the dance, but as he was leaving, he felt someone grab him around his neck and then began feeling pain. According to Charlery, the victim's companion told police that Pedro cut the man with a box cutter that she pulled from inside her shirt and the blood began rushing from his neck and he was rushed to the hospital in a private vehicle.

The man underwent emergency treatment at the hospital and received 14 stitches to close a stab wound that physicians say was less than 2 centimeters away from his jugular vein.

Based on information from the man and from other witnesses, police put out an all-points bulletin for Pedro, who was not located until six hours later, when she showed up at the hospital seeking treatment for injuries to her face that she said was sustained during a fight. She also had bandages on her left forearm and her right underarm at the time of her arrest, according to the affidavit.

Pedro was represented Tuesday by an attorney from the Public Defender's Office, who said a motion for her release will be filed at a later date.

- Contact reporter Fiona Stokes at 714-9149 or email fstokes@dailynews.vi.

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