He has been identified as 35-year-old Esworth Barnwell of Diamond Estate. Barnwell is charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and being armed with an offensive weapon.

“Initial investigations indicate that Monday evening, the accused attacked members of his family with a machete following an argument at the family home. Both the wife and stepdaughter were taken to the Dr D. Orlando Smith Hospital. The stepdaughter is in serious but stable condition while the wife was treated and released,” the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force said in a recent press statement.

“The two minor children who were also in the home were unharmed,” the police added.

In the meantime, Barnwell, a native of St Vincent, is to appear before the Magistrate’s Court at the next available sitting.