CHARLOTTE AMALIE — After a three-day trial, a Superior Court jury found a St. Thomas man guilty of felony assault today, authorities said.
Ramon Alberto Ledesma German, 37, was found guilty of a machete attack that resulted in injuries to 44-year-old Nilvo Mateo, Virgin Islands Attorney General nominee Gordon C. Rhea said.
German was charged with third-degree felony assault (assault with a dangerous/deadly weapon) and use of a dangerous/deadly weapon during the commission of a crime of violence, according to acting AG Rhea.
On October 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 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 Investigation Bureau, who investigated the case.