PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance sentenced a 44-year-old man to 42 months in prison for possession of 24.8 kilos of cocaine and a firearm, the Judge said Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, the Prosecutor’s Office had called for a prison sentence of 57 months.
Police carried out a raid at a home in Mary’s Fancy in the early morning hours of May 9, during which police confiscated drugs, firearms and US $32,900 in cash. Suspect Jose Elmiro Cannegieter was arrested in connection with this case.
During the September 18 hearing of his case, the house painter by profession told the Judge he had been forced to become involved with drugs and firearms after running into financial difficulties. Almost 25 kilos of cocaine were found in a travelling bag hidden in a cistern.
The defendant confessed to the crimes. “The accusations are correct. The drugs were in my possession. I know I have violated the law,” he told the Court last month. He also confessed that the firearm and cartridges in a clip that were found during the search were his.
Attorney-at-law Sjamira Roseburg had stated that the search of her client’s house should be declared illegal and that only a limited number of packages had been tested for cocaine.
However, the Court found the search, which was based on information provided by the Criminal Intelligence Service (CID), legitimate. Also, the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) had sufficiently proven that the confiscated packages contained cocaine.
The Court said it “understood” the defendant’s standpoint that his life could have been in danger if he had given a statement about the persons who were connected with the drugs, the money and the weaponry that were found in his house during the search.
The Judge also recognised that the suspect had not dared to say “No” to these people when they had asked him for a “favour”. However, this did not mean that the defendant had not committed punishable acts, the Judge said.
