CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Vincent man is facing the possibility of life in prison after a child called police and said she’d been sexually and physically abused, and the adults in her home ignored her pleas for treatment for what turned out to be a broken collarbone.
Dexter Teschiera Sr., 43, of Estate Ross, was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with first-degree aggravated rape; unlawful first-degree sexual contact; first, second and third-degree assault; and aggravated child abuse and neglect, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
The victim, a 14-year-old girl, called police Friday. Officers responded to her home and found her in pain, with her arm in a sling, according to an affidavit filed by Virgin Islands Police.
Officers contacted Human Services and brought the girl to Schneider Hospital, where staff determined she had a broken collarbone.
She told police that on August 2, Teschiera was arguing with his live-in girlfriend and he also became angry with her. Teschiera “grabbed her by the throat, lifted her up into the air, and slammed her body down on the counter,” according to the affidavit.
The girl said she fell to the floor and Teschiera “kicked her,” before she ran into the bedroom, followed by Teschiera’s girlfriend. The victim told the girlfriend she was in pain and wanted to go to the hospital. Instead, the girlfriend told her there was an arm sling in the bathroom, according to the affidavit.
Teschiera later apologized, but when she told him she was in pain, “he began to act as if the situation never happened,” the girl told police. She said the girlfriend reluctantly agreed to take her to the hospital, but never did.
The victim said she decided to call police four days after the assault “because she was in tremendous pain and no one in the house cared enough to do anything about it.”
The victim also described several instances of sexual assault by Teschiera, and said she has depression and “has even asked for help in finding a therapist, but it seemed to her that no one wanted to help.” She said Teschiera has tried to “use her mental illness against her to make others think that she is crazy,” according to the affidavit.
Teshiera told police the girl “started to act out” because she wants to go to a different school.
Territorial Public Defender Alexia Furlow said Teshiera wants the court to acknowledge his tribal citizenship and that “this court does not have legal jurisdiction over him.”
“I do not intend to do so, number one. And this court does have jurisdiction over him,” said Magistrate Judge Henry Carr III.
Assistant Virgin Islands Attorney General Brenda Scales said Teshiera was born in St. Vincent and has no apparent criminal record, and it’s unclear whether he has American citizenship.
“He’s looking at life in jail” if convicted, Scales said asking for bail to be set at $500,000. Furlow countered Teshiera has lived in the Virgin Islands for 20 years, requested $5,000 bail and asked that he be released into the third-party custody of his girlfriend.
The arresting officer told Carr that the girlfriend did not agree to speak with police , and Furlow said she also identified herself as a sovereign citizen.
Carr said he did not find the woman “to be a suitable third-party custodian, period,” especially because it appears the victim went to her for assistance “which she neglected, and/or refused to give.”
“Teschiera is accused of the unlawful sexual contact of a minor of May 26, and assaulting the same victim on August 2,” VIPD spokesman Toby Derima said.
Teschiera was jailed without bail, in accordance with the territory’s domestic violence laws, pending his Advice of Rights hearing.
Teschiera is “also known as Makurija Sakatu based on his sovereign citizenship, of Estate Ross,” according to Derima.
All individuals listed as arrested or charged with a crime in this report are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.