CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A woman faces assault charges after she allegedly punched a man in the face and threatened him with a knife to bully him into turning over an elderly relative’s food stamps and banking cards.
Valerie Jafferali, 47, was arrested and charged with simple assault-domestic violence and third-degree assault-domestic violence, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
Officers were dispatched to Ebenezer Gardens in reference to a female striking an individual in the face and chasing him with a knife at 5:31 p.m. Monday, according to the VIPD.
The officers made contact with the victim who stated that he was at Ebenezer Gardens taking care of a family member when Valerie Jafferali demanded for him to give her the family member’s food stamp card and bank cards, police said.
“When he refused to give Jafferali the cards, she punched him in his face, pulled a knife on him and chased him down the hall,” VIPD Communications Director Glen Dratte said.
Officers met with Jafferali and took her into official custody on the charges above.
The suspect was transported to the Richard Callwood Command, where she was booked, processed.
No bail was offered to Jafferali in keeping with the territory’s domestic violence laws.
She was transferred to the custody of the Bureau of Corrections at the St. Thomas jail.
Jafferali is scheduled for an advice-of-rights hearing at the Superior Court in Charlotte Amalie.
Ebenezer Gardens is a 42-unit, low-income independent living apartment complex for seniors managed by Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands in St. Thomas.
