Overview:
Richelle Robinson, the girl on the heart of the home battery case in opposition to Haitian media persona Carel Pedre, filed a sworn affidavit stating she doesn’t need to pursue prosecution and denied being in a romantic relationship with him — a declare that contradicts previous social media posts displaying them collectively Pedre allegedly telling officers she was his live-in girlfriend.
The lady on the heart of a home violence case involving Haitian media persona Carel Pedre advised a Florida courtroom this week that she doesn’t need him prosecuted and denied the 2 have been romantically concerned — a press release that seems to contradict their beforehand public relationship. The affidavit additionally runs opposite to the arresting officers’ report saying Pedre allegedly described the girl as his live-in girlfriend.
In a sworn affidavit of non-prosecution filed Jan. 8 in Broward County Circuit Court docket, Richelle Robinson acknowledged she didn’t concern Pedre, didn’t need to relive the Dec. 21 incident that led to his arrest, and wished to “put this behind me and transfer on with my life.”
“Carel has by no means grow to be bodily aggressive with me,” Robinson wrote. “I don’t really feel concern for my security when I’m round Carel. I don’t want safety from Carel.”
Robinson additionally wrote that the 2 have been “not in a courting relationship,” including that they have been by no means married nor ever lived collectively, and that she maintained her personal residence. The affidavit was filed by Pedre’s lawyer, Jeremy McLymont.
Nevertheless, that characterization of their relationship differs from the way it had beforehand been introduced publicly in addition to Pedre telling officers they lived collectively. For months main as much as Pedre’s arrest, Robinson’s social media accounts featured quite a few photographs and movies of the 2 collectively — together with moments the place she reduce his hair at a barbershop, celebrated Haitian cultural occasions with him and referred to him affectionately in captions. In a single broadly shared clip, Robinson, who’s of Jamaican ancestry, draped herself within the Haitian flag whereas posing alongside Pedre. Many within the Haitian group interpreted that scene as symbolic of romantic partnership.
Simply days earlier than the affidavit and after the arrest, Robinson posted movies of her in a black outsized sweatshirt emblazoned with “1804,” the yr Haiti turned the world’s First Black Republic, that’s similar to a high Pedre has worn. The picture led to extra hypothesis that she was carrying Pedre’s shirt.
Robinson’s submitting now raises questions on how a lot weight the courtroom — and immigration authorities — will place on her present assertion, particularly given her position because the alleged sufferer and first witness. Pedre’s personal alleged statements can also come to bear.
Pedre stays within the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following the preliminary arrest in Tamarac, Fla., on a home battery cost. His immigration case, triggered by the arrest and native cooperation with ICE detainer requests, continues independently of the felony proceedings.
Dispute over a social media put up
In response to police studies, the incident started as an argument over a social media put up that Pedre allegedly wished eliminated as a result of it confirmed his behind. The argument escalated when Pedre reportedly took Robinson’s cellphone and left the condominium. A nude Robinson adopted him outdoors in an try and retrieve the cellphone. She later advised authorities she had been pushed to the bottom, whereas a neighbor claimed to witness Pedre choking her. Pedre denied each accounts.
Robinson now refutes each variations, writing in her affidavit that Pedre “didn’t throw me to the bottom or choke me.”
Additionally now contradicted by Robinson are Pedre’s personal phrases throughout an preliminary interview with deputies responding to the 911 name. Throughout that early morning fracas, Pedre allegedly advised the officer that he and Robinson lived collectively and had been courting for six months.
Pedre’s description of their relationship is a part of the explanation the officer arrested Pedre on suspicion of home battery, relevant to companions in a relationship.
After his arrest and transportation to the Broward County jail, Pedre posted bond the next day, however ICE had already issued a detainer. Inside 48 hours of the arrest, he was transferred into immigration custody, the place he stays.
His not responsible plea within the felony case stands.
Complicating an already fraught case
The affidavit from Robinson provides a brand new layer to a high-profile case that has drawn widespread consideration within the Haitian diaspora and on-line communities. Supporters and critics alike have debated whether or not Pedre — identified for his digital media platform Chokarella and his affect in Haitian popular culture — is being focused unfairly or is being held accountable for previous alleged habits.
Some could view Robinson’s affidavit as a possible turning level within the felony case, however authorized consultants warning that the State Lawyer’s Workplace just isn’t obligated to dismiss prices solely as a result of a sufferer now not needs to prosecute.
The Haitian influencer’s detention highlights how arrests at the moment are triggering “Amazon Prime-style” deportations, revealing a system-wide shift that places immigrants susceptible to elimination earlier than their circumstances are heard.
“This occurs usually in home violence circumstances,” stated Frandley Julien, a Miami-based immigration lawyer not linked to Pedre’s case, to The Haitian Occasions in a December 2025 interview. “However even when the felony case is dropped, the immigration penalties can persist — generally completely.”
Pedre’s arrest, detention and, now, the conflicting narratives about his relationship with Robinson have fueled wider debates about celeb, privilege and the remedy of girls in Haitian communities within the U.S. Some social media customers say Pedre is being unfairly maligned. Others argue that the scenario displays a broader sample of minimizing ladies’s accounts, even once they come ahead beneath tough circumstances.
Again in Port-de-Paix, the place Pedre was born, reactions to the case have been blended. Whereas some proceed to help him as a proud son of the area, others have expressed disappointment or indifference, pointing to a perceived disconnect between Pedre’s rise in media and his relationship to his hometown.
Whether or not the affidavit will alter the trajectory of Pedre’s home violence case or his ICE immigration standing stays to be seen. Prosecutors haven’t issued a public assertion because the doc was filed. Pedre’s immigration proceedings — a parallel system the place outcomes usually come quicker and with fewer alternatives for enchantment — aren’t seen to the general public right now, although that has not curbed hypothesis about his immigration standing and household life. ICE has not returned messages from The Haitian Occasions about Pedre’s detention as of this writing.