Arguments with machetes never end well: Beaufort man arrested in Port Royal attack

Evan McKenna
·1 min read

A Beaufort man is behind bars after police say he attacked a neighbor with a machete during a disagreement, according to the Port Royal Police Department.

Elisar Harde Ribera, 40, was charged early Monday morning with second-degree assault and battery, a Class A misdemeanor.

Port Royal officers were called just before 7 p.m. Sunday to the parking lot of Beaufort Mobile Home Park, where Ribera and another man both alleged the other man had attacked them with a machete, said department spokesperson Capt. John Griffith. After observing cuts on the unnamed man’s torso, police accused Ribera of slicing the man with the machete.

Investigators say the men were arguing over accusations of one stealing the other’s property, which escalated when Ribera grabbed the machete from nearby.

Ribera’s bond was set at $20,000 and he remained in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center as of Tuesday afternoon, jail records show.

While machete attacks are not commonplace occurrences in Beaufort County, this is not the first one in recent years:

  • Police arrested 36-year-old Khalif Uqdah in August 2022 for allegedly chasing his girlfriend’s neighbor with a machete at the peak of a verbal dispute.

  • Sheriff’s Office deputies captured Beaufort’s Michael Goode in July 2020 after he reportedly ran from the scene of a deadly machete attack. Officers say they saw Goode repeatedly “swinging” the knife at the body of 66-year-old Georgia man Rodney Watson, who was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Goode is still awaiting trial for his murder charge and related accusations.