Police officers leading Jason Arandel out of the Courthouse after his trial on August 23.
PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced Jason Arandel (19) to four years in youth detention for firing twice at a tinted vehicle in the parking lot of the Little League Stadium on Pond Island in the early morning hours of July 3, 2022, after the conclusion of the popular Buss Di Chains Cooler Fete.
One of the bullets struck a 26-year-old man sitting in the vehicle’s passenger seat. He is now para-lysed and in a wheelchair. The driver got away physically unharmed.
During Arandel’s trial on August 23, the prosecutor demanded nine years in prison, considering the charges of attempted murder and gun possession proven. Although he was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, she argued for Arandel to be sentenced as an adult. According to the Criminal Code, persons between 16 and 18 years old can be tried and convicted as adults under certain circumstanc-es.
Arandel’s lawyer Shaira Bommel had pleaded for her client’s acquittal of attempted murder, argu-ing that there was insufficient legal and convincing evidence to prove that Arandel was involved in the shooting.
Arandel denied his involvement during the trial and claimed that he had been standing by the “I Love SXM” sign when the shooting started, and not near the Little League Stadium.
In its verdict on Wednesday, the Court described Arandel’s claim of not being at the scene of the crime as “unbelievable”. Instead, the Court fell back on witness testimony that identified Arandel as the shooter and surveillance camera footage that seemed to show Arandel and several other young men walking toward the victims’ car just moments before gunshots rang out.
Although the Court ruled that Arandel was “fully intent on killing the occupants of the car,” it could not determine whether he acted with pre-meditation, one of the legal requirements for murder. To prove pre-meditation, it needs to be established that a defendant had a period of quiet and calm re-flection to consider the consequences of their actions.
Instead, the Court found Arandel guilty of the lesser charge of attempted manslaughter. He was also found guilty of two counts of gun possession – one count for the nine millimetre pistol he used to fire on the two men sitting in the car, and the other for a .38 calibre revolver and five rounds of live ammunition that were found on him when he was arrested on September 3, 2022.
However, the Court did not sentence Arandel as an adult, as had been demanded by the prosecutor. Instead it found a juvenile sentence appropriate, based on the principle that Arandel was still a minor when he pulled the trigger. His 18th birthday was two weeks after the shooting.
Four years in detention is the maximum sentence that the Court can impose on juvenile offenders.
During the trial, the paralysed man’s parents submitted a compensation claim of NAf. 50,000 for immaterial damages, and almost 19,000 euros for his medical bills abroad.
Their son is currently in the Netherlands for rehabilitative care. He has some movement in one of his arms, and there is the dim hope that additional treatment can be restore function in his other arm.
But “the prognosis is life-long paralysis,” the prosecutor said during the trial. “He will be dependant on someone for the rest of his life.”
In its verdict, the Court ordered Arandel to pay NAf. 50,000 in damages to the victim’s family. If Ar-
andel does not pay, he will have to spend an additional 285 days in prison.
NAf. 50,000 is the highest amount that can be awarded to injured parties in criminal proceedings. For the remainder of the family’s claim, the judge told them that they can submit their case in civil court.
