Machete suspect heads to New York

The suspect will eventually be deported.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A New York City Police profiler predicted that Proboodat Joucoo would move to a small town, work his way into a church group and likely commit another crime when he became comfortable.
Joucoo, using the alias Ramesh Ramkellawan, moved to New Castle sometime last year, joined a Narcotics Anonymous group sponsored through a local church, then sexually assaulted a woman he met through the program, police said.
He was in the Lawrence County Jail awaiting trial when a former inmate saw a photo of Joucoo on "America's Most Wanted" and identified him as Ramkellwan.
On Thursday, Joucoo waived extradition to New York, where he faces attempted-homicide charges in a machete attack on his estranged wife.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said Joucoo also agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial on the Lawrence County charges because he will be tried in New York first.
Three New York City detectives were present at the extradition hearing, and they expect to return today with Joucoo to New York.
The detectives came to New Castle this week to question people who came in contact with Joucoo to see if he gave any information about the attempted homicide of his wife in Brooklyn in May 2005.
Joucoo was featured on "America's Most Wanted" in May for the machete allegations.
Arms severed
According to reports, Joucoo was barred from his wife's apartment by a protection-from-abuse order but stormed into his son's 15th birthday party in May 2005 and attacked his wife with a machete, severing both her arms.
Surgeons later reattached the arms.
New York detectives said they found Joucoo's van about two blocks from the apartment after the attack but no trace of him. That is why they turned to "America's Most Wanted."
The second tip called into the show after it aired was from a former Lawrence County Jail inmate who identified Joucoo as Ramkellawan, who was in jail awaiting trial on the sexual-assault charge, the detectives said.
New Castle police say they took Ramkellawan's fingerprints after his arrest and submitted them to a national database, but there were no matches.
They suspected something was wrong when Ramkellawan claimed to be from "Belize, Trinidad." Belize is in Central America, bordering Mexico and Guatemala, and Trinidad is an island in the southern Caribbean.
The New York City detectives say they had no fingerprints on file because Joucoo's previous arrests had been on domestic violence charges, which were wiped out of the system once his sentence was served. The detectives say they were trying to get Joucoo's fingerprints from the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission to post them in a national database when he was identified through "America's Most Wanted."
Will be sent back
Detectives said Joucoo will be prosecuted in the attack on his wife when he returns to New York and will eventually be sent back to Trinidad. He came to this country from there in 1996.
Bongivengo said Joucoo will return to Lawrence County for trial on the sexual-assault charge after his criminal proceedings end in New York.
The New York detectives said Joucoo's estranged wife and children are anxious to confront him in court.
cioffi@vindy.com