PHILIPSBURG--Convicted paedophile Colin Kristensen, who was released from the Point Blanche prison to get medical treatment in his native Scotland and never returned, will serve the remainder of his seven-year sentence in the constituent country of the United Kingdom, the Prosecutor’s Office OM-SXM said on Thursday.
In February 2019, the Court of First Instance sentenced Kristensen to seven years in prison for a number of charges, including fornication with his own minor child; acquiring, possessing and distributing child pornography; assaulting his landlord; possessing 197 grammes of cocaine; planned sale of stolen jewellery; inciting forgery; and bribery of a police officer, his co-defendant Jerry-Lee Gerardus.
However, Kristensen was let out of prison in early December 2019 so that he could get a prosthetic limb in Scotland. He had spent almost two years behind bars at that point.
The one-legged man was supposed to return after his treatment but he never did, despite local authorities filing an extradition request with their counterparts in Scotland.
Neither did he attend his appeal trial in 2022, when the Joint Court of Justice confirmed the lower court’s ruling and the seven-year prison term.
Kristensen’s sentence became irrevocable in April 2023. The Dutch Supreme Court, like the two courts before it, approved his sentence without any changes.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Kristensen’s extradition had been denied by Scottish authorities due to medical reasons, but this was followed up with a request that convicted man serve what was left of his sentence in a prison there.
Kristensen began sitting the approximately five years remaining on his seven-year sentence on September 3, the Prosecutor’s Office said, referring to confirmation it has received from the Scottish Prison Service.
“The Prosecutor’s Office of St. Maarten is satisfied with the resolution of this situation and is grateful to the Scottish authorities for their cooperation in this matter,” the Prosecutor’s Office said. “This case shows that the Prosecutor’s Office of St. Maarten takes its responsibility to see justice served and sentences are properly executed.”
