A Dominica man convicted more than a year ago of disfiguring his girlfriend with a machete has been returned to the territory to serve out a 45-year jail sentence.
V.I. police Major Crime Unit detectives reported Thursday that Rueben Vigilant was returned this week after months of negotiations with government officials in Dominica.
Vigilant was convicted in June 1999 of attempted murder and several related charges. The convictions stemmed from a Jan. 5, 1999, incident in which he repeatedly hacked his girlfriend, April Xavier, with a machete during a domestic violence altercation outside a Smith Bay residence.
Earlier this year, Territorial Court Judge Ive Swan sentenced Vigilant in absentia after he failed to show for a previously scheduled sentencing. A Bovoni home put up for bond by friends of his mother to keep him out of jail during trial was forfeited when he fled the territory, reportedly on the last day of the trial.
Xavier survived the attack but suffered serious injuries to the head, neck and hands. She lost three fingers on her right hand and her left thumb was severed. The thumb was later reattached.
A statement Thursday from Deputy Police Chief Theodore said that Vigilant was remanded to custody at the Bureau of Corrections after his return from Dominica.
