Police investigating the scene of the March 21, 2018, shooting on Middle Region Road. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG--A man accused of being involved in an early-morning shooting in front of a supermarket on Middle Region Road close to Romeo’s Drive on March 21, 2018, may be facing fourteen years imprisonment.
The Prosecutor’s Office accused him of attempted murder, three attempted manslaughters and possession of an illegal firearm, during Wednesday’s Court hearing. The judge will give his decision October 9.
One person who worked at the supermarket as a “packer boy” was shot in his back during the shooting and could have been killed, according to the Prosecutor. Three bystanders, a young primary schoolboy among them, narrowly escaped being hit.
Defendant O.R.C. (24) confessed to having fired one or more gunshots, but denied he had tried to kill anyone.
The shooting incident originated from an argument between the suspect and another man with whom he said he had been in a feud for more than two years. At one point during this confrontation, C. pulled a gun and fired several shots at the victim, who took off running.
A Prosecutor’s Office’s compilation of video-surveillance camera footage of the incident was shown in the courtroom on Wednesday. In the images it was seen that the suspect, who was dressed in white, briefly chased the victim through the area. The victim was later found on Ginger Island Drive, bleeding from a wound to his upper body.
“When I look at the images I see a young man who threw away his life in an instant,” the judge told the defendant, who had held a stevedoring job at Port of St. Maarten for more than four years.
“I wish the [incident – Ed.] had never happened, and I wish I had not gone to that supermarket,” C. said in response. “What I did was wrong and I take full responsibility.”
He said he had had no intention to hurt anyone that day, even though he was carrying a gun, which he claimed was for self-protection.
He said that he knew that the victim was “always” carrying a machete, but denied that he had not gone to that particular supermarket because he knew that the victim would be there, but to buy himself some breakfast.
The defendant was extradited from French St. Martin to Dutch St. Maarten on Monday, June 17, 2019. Police detectives had heard that the suspect had fled to the French side of the island and through cooperation with the French authorities C. was apprehended and placed under arrest. He had been sent to a prison in Guadeloupe, after which he was extradited to Dutch St. Maarten.
The Prosecutor said that a 2017 incident in which the victim had inflicted severe injuries to C.’s head, ear and face with a broken bottle was “in no way” justification for what had happened during the shooting.
The defendant deserved a severe punishment, as he had sought the confrontation with the victim without any restraint and without taking into consideration the bystanders and endangering their lives, the Prosecution said, stating that the “circle of fear” caused by the possession of illegal firearms needed to be broken.
Attorney-at-law Safira Ibrahim pleaded with the Court to declare her client guilty without imposing a sentence, because he had been under great psychological stress due to the previous altercations with the victim.
The lawyer said her client had pulled his firearm and had shot at the victim out of panic and fear. “My client was upset due to all the harassment and threats.”
Ibrahim said C. had not been aware of the other three victims’ presence at the scene of the crime, as he had not been “thinking straight” and had “his focus on the victim.”
The lawyer said the attempted-murder charge should be dismissed, as there was no evidence of premeditation. The defendant had acted on impulse, the lawyer said. She denied that her client had fired shots at random on the public road.
According to Ibrahim, the attempted murder and manslaughter charges should be dismissed, due to “psychological force majeure”.
