Facing a deadline from his estranged wife to move out, a Queens dad accused of trying to drown his twin toddlers in the waters off a Connecticut beach threatened to kill his whole family — and may have tried to slit his little girl’s throat during the attack — the distraught mother said Monday.
Lourdes Salvant. 41, is thrilled to finally have her 3-year-old son and daughter home from the hospital, but said the harrowing ordeal has left her and her young children damaged beyond repair.
“No forgiveness,” Salvant said nearly two weeks after police rescued her kids from the waters off West Haven, Conn. “What he did to them, that’s very evil. If the cop wasn’t here, I would not have them right now.”
Salvant said her relationship with Romney Desronvil, 41, soured years ago.
Salvant said tensions boiled over last month as he approached a move-out deadline, when, instead of just leaving their Flushing home, Desronvil packed young Gianna and Giovanni in the car for a late-night trip to Connecticut while their mother was at work.
What happened next horrified relatives, neighbors and first responders on both sides of the state border.
Officials said Desronvil clutched a child in each arm and stepped into the water when suspicious cops approached him on the beach at 2:30 a.m.
After their rescue by police, Salvant rushed to Connecticut, where the children spent days in intensive care at a local hospital and were reunited on their birthday — along with the officers who saved them — the West Haven Police Department said.
Desronvil was charged with attempted murder and jailed on $2 million bail.
West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer arranged transport for the twins and their mom back to Queens.
“The officer was there,” Salvant said. “Maybe that was God because God knows my heart. I could not handle this. It’s terrible. But thank God, he was there. The right place at the right time. God put him here to save them.
“If it wasn’t for him, I think he would have killed them,” she added. “What are they doing in the water at 2:30 in the morning?”
Salvant said things were difficult at home but never imagined anything like this.
She said the ordeal began on June 21.
“He dropped me to work around 3,” said Salvant, who works as a care manager in an assisted living facility. “I was supposed to work 3 to 11. He told me he’s going to go to Home Depot to buy a box to put his stuff in. He was supposed to move Monday the 23rd. And then he dropped me to work.”
Salvant said her husband sent her a text saying he was taking the twins to her aunt’s apartment downstairs. That was the last she heard from him, and she was unable to reach him. She came home after her shift ended. Her aunt said the kids weren’t there.
She called 911. Hours later, cops told her what happened at the beach and she rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, where the twins were taken.
“My heart just dropped,” Salvant said. “I was shaking. It was crazy. I was crying. When I got to the hospital, to see them laid out was crazy.
“I never thought he would do it to the kids,” she added. “He always threatens l, but I never thought he’d hurt the kids. No. No.”
Salvant showed a wound on her daughter’s neck. She said she thinks Desronvil tried to cut her throat before pulling her into the water.
“It looked like he was using a knife,” the stunned mom said. “Probably that was first, but he changed his mind and tried to drown them in the water.”
Desronvil had been working as a driver for celebrities, according to Salvant. She said the problems started after he was injured during a car accident in 2020, explaining that doctors had to put metal in his leg to reinforce his ankle and he received no money from insurance.
Since then, Salvant said, there have been constant fights about money and employment.
Despite their differences, she said she was convinced he loved the kids.
“He loved them so much,” Salvant said. “I don’t know what’s got into him. Maybe because he was moving out. Because we’re not together, he wants to try to hurt me because I tell him he needs to find a job and take care of the kids. Maybe he lost his mind. That’s why he wanted to do it, to hurt me.”
She said their recovery has been difficult. She said she had the TV on one day and the twins saw a news report about their father.
“They say, ‘Dada,’ and I turn off the TV right away,” she said.
Salvant has launched a GoFundMe site to help pay for medical bills and household expenses.
“Now, I’m not working,” she said. “The bills, the rent, the lights. Everything for them. I don’t know when I’m going to go back to work. It’s extremely hard for me. I’m on my own.”
