~ Ministry responds to lawyer’s complaint ~
PHILIPSBURG--The Ministry of Justice is fully aware of the impact violent and unfortunately, even deadly crimes can have on the family of the victim and the community as a whole. It is also for this reason that the ministry has taken the necessary steps in establishing the foundation Victim Support Services (VSS), which will become fully operational in 2022. The VSS will be able to provide guidance and support to victims of criminal behaviour.
The Ministry of Justice said this in response to statements made by attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann in The Daily Herald of Thursday, February 24, that the mother of a teenager who was shot and killed in Sucker Garden on March 9, 2020, is still waiting for the payment of damages.
Also, the lawyer complained about the fact that 18 months ago, Minister of Justice Anna Richardson announced that she would improve the position of victims in criminal law, among other things, by the establishment of a Victim Support Office.
Hatzmann said he had not noticed any improvement in this area, despite the formal establishment of VSS. “I have not yet witnessed a single instance of one of their employees making a claim on behalf of crime victims,” he said in this newspaper.
In the case of the teenager’s mother, payment of NAf. 8,712.68 in damages was awarded by the Court of First Instance on February 1, to cover the cost of her son’s funeral. However, almost two years after her son’s death and three weeks after the verdict, the woman has not received any payment, Hatzmann said.
“Although we feel our responsibility to work hard on making our community as safe as possible, it should be noted that it is primarily always the offender who should be held responsible (financially and emotionally) for his or her actions,” communications consultant at the Cabinet of the Minister of Justice Luis Hurtault stated on behalf of Minister Richardson.
Hatzmann addressed the minister, not the perpetrator, in his efforts to obtain the money due to his client, because the judge in the Court of First Instance attached a so-called compensation order (“schadevergoedingsmaatregel”) to the verdict. This means that the convicted person is ordered to pay compensation to the State for the benefit of the injured party.
The Justice Ministry said that when the court sentences an offender to pay damages to a victim, it is the offender who is primarily obligated to pay the full amount of damages to the victim or the heirs.
“It cannot be that one can commit crimes and the government will pay their debt to society. In cases where the offender is still a minor, the parents of the offender are responsible for the payment of damages,” Hurtault explained.
To accommodate the victim or the heirs, Article 1:78, Paragraph 6 of the Criminal Code provides a regulation in cases where the offender neglects to pay damages to the victim or the heirs. In such instances, Country St. Maarten can make a payment in advance of damages to a maximum of NAf. 5,000.
However, the law also states that such an option of payment in advance by the government is only applicable when it regards an irrevocable verdict and eight months have passed since such verdict, in which the offender was sentenced to pay damages but neglected to fulfil his/her legal obligation to do so (in full) to the victim or the heirs. These types of advance payments by the government can be recovered from the offender with an increased rate of 15 per cent, the Ministry of Justice explained.
“The Ministry of Justice will look into this case in more detail to establish if the payment of damages as imposed by the judge to the offender, is eligible for an advance payment by the government. The outcome of this legal assessment will be communicated to the lawyer in this case.”
