PHILIPSBURG--The Joint Court of Justice on Thursday sentenced a 41-year-old man to eighty hours community service for public violence on Ground Dove Road in Pointe Blanche, on February 2, 2019. In case the defendant fails to do community service, he will have to spend forty days in detention.
Troy Antonio Jones was sentenced according to the solicitor-general’s demand, but his lawyer Geert Hatzmann pleaded for an acquittal, just like he had successfully done in the Court of First Instance. This time, however, the defendant and his lawyer were not so lucky.
The violence originated in the fact that the victim had taken the defendant’s car without his permission. A while later, the victim knocked a couple of youngsters off the scooter they were riding on.
Together with the young people, who were tried during a different court procedure, the 41-year-old suspect confronted the man who had taken his vehicle. He dealt a first blow and pushed the victim, who was already outside the vehicle.
From this course of events, the Court of Appeals concluded that Jones not only initiated, but also facilitated and promoted other acts of violence against the victim by the other accused.
In persisting in holding the victim the suspect created an opportunity for the continued abuse by the four other suspects, the court said.
“The suspect has by no means offered him [the victim – Ed.] protection against these assaults, nor has he otherwise visibly turned against it,” the Court of Appeals stated after thoroughly studying the video images of the incident which were recorded on a mobile phone.
After he himself had delivered the first blow and had pushed and grasped the victim, he persistently held the victim who was beaten and kicked by as many as four other men. A radio was also thrown at him.
Taking everything into consideration, the Court of Appeals found that Jones had made a sufficiently significant and substantial contribution to these acts of violence, such that these could be regarded as committing public violence against a person in association with others.
The court found that he had a reprehensible role in the violence, but that this was limited compared to the other suspects.
In sentencing, the court considered that Jones was not previously convicted of a similar offence, that the proven fact dates from almost two years ago, and that in the meantime he has not committed any other error. In addition, the court also regarded the penalties imposed on the other suspects.
