FORT PIERCE, FL — A 48-year-old mother accused of holding a machete to her 16-year-old son’s face Monday morning faces a felony charge, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday.
The teen boy said his mother, Melbourne Jocelyn, held the machete to his face and threatened to cut him before he and his older brother locked themselves in a bedroom and called 911. The victim was crying and appeared very upset.
Jocelyn, of the 200 block of North 17th Street, was in her front yard holding a machete when police arrived. She said she was doing yard work and denied threatening her sons.
She said she argued with her 16-year-old son over housework. She held the machete during the argument but didn’t use it in a “threatening manner.”
The victim’s written witness statement, which contains punctuation and spelling errors and is unclear, at least in part reads, “I woke up this morning and she was snapping on me telling to do like five chores at the same time but then it got a little bit to (sic) spicey (sic) she pulled out the long knife and I told her do what she’s willing to do then she put the knife right by my mouth and she to me to shut up so that’s when I started shaking and I walked to my room as fast as I can and then called police while she was getting the knife. She said something about striking me with it.”
The victim’s 17-year-old brother declined to complete a written statement. He said he didn’t see the incident.
Jocelyn was arrested on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill charge.
