A St. John man convicted of stabbing and paralyzing a man in 2021 has been arrested again, just more than a year after his release, for stabbing another man.
Police detained Rupert Walters Jr., 50, Friday, four days after a warrant was issued for his arrest. Walters was allegedly harassing women walking near Cruz Bay’s Tap & Still around 9 p.m. on Dec. 10. Walters cursed the man who told him to stop before attacking him with a knife, according to court records.
A bystander intervened, throwing Walters to the ground, according to the Virgin Islands Police Department. The attack left blood on the street and a wooden fence. The victim was transported to the Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic for wounds to his head, hand, and abdomen.
Walters was charged with assault, use of a dangerous weapon, reckless endangerment, and other charges. His bail was set at $75,000. Walters, also known as Big Youth, has a long history of violence and arrests, and was well known to VIPD, according to court records.
In May 2021, a man leaving Beach Bar told police he saw Walters harassing an older man. When the victim told Walters to “chill out,” Walters attacked, stabbing the man in the neck. The two-inch puncture wound hit the victim’s spinal cord, leaving him partially paralyzed.
After a manhunt, Walters was arrested and charged with attempted murder, assault, use of a deadly weapon, mayhem, reckless endangerment, and other crimes. He pleaded not guilty at first but later accepted a deal. He was sentenced to three years in prison for third degree assault in February 2023, with credit given for time served.
Walters was released in 2024 but allegedly failed to pay associated fines and fees. The government filed a civil suit against him.
In 2016, Walters was charged with first-degree murder in the May 2015 shooting death of Kenson Jolly, 25. Jolly had been a suspect in a machete-and-knife fight that February that left the streets of Cruz Bay covered in blood.
Police came to suspect Walters in the murder and eventually charged him after a firearm was found in his vehicle that allegedly matched the murder weapon. Police searched Walters’ vehicle after he’d been involved in an altercation with another driver. A Virgin Islands Superior Court judge ruled the arrest and the search illegal and the firearm evidence was excluded, according to court records.
Incomplete court records online did not specify if Walters was convicted of a crime in the matter.
In 2012, Walters was charged with burglary, assault, and weapons charges that were eventually dismissed in 2014, according to court records.
In 2011, Walters was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault and battery, disturbance of the peace, and other crimes. He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and battery in a court or church and was sentenced to six months imprisonment — with all but 10 days suspended.
Court records were unclear on how or why the charges were resolved. That same year, Walters was charged with criminal contempt of court.
