The wreckage of Patricia Lynch’s white Hyundai jeep is seen on the scene on Little Bay Road, May 4, 2019.
ARNHEM--A Dutch military man who injured St. Maartener Patricia “Patsy” Lynch in a traffic accident in May 2019 will have to spend three months in military detention, be forbidden to drive a car for two years and pay the victim some 12,000 euros.
The Military Court on October 5 convicted the suspect, Arnout Oosterkamp, of causing a severe accident on St. Maarten’s Little Bay Road on May 4, 2019, while under the influence of alcohol. The marine’s car, which turned after hitting Lynch’s car, caused the victim to sustain multiple injuries with long-term consequences.
The Military Chamber of the Court in Arnhem considered proven that the suspect drove at high speed in a highly careless manner, after having consumed a substantial amount of alcohol, and that he ended up on the wrong side of the road where he hit the victim’s car.
The suspect was not only sentenced for causing a traffic accident with severe bodily harm as a result, but also for drunk driving. The prosecution during the handling of the case on September 21 had requested three months jail and suspension of the suspect’s driver’s licence for two years minus the period in which the driver’s licence was confiscated.
The Military Court was critical of O.’s actions of driving under the influence of alcohol. “The suspect decided to drive while having consumed three to six times more alcohol than is allowed even though he knew it was better to take a taxi. He paid insufficient attention and anticipated too little the other traffic,” it was stated in the verdict.
“Even though the suspect was stationed in St. Maarten as a military man, he misbehaved not only in the form of this accident, but also afterwards.” The Court referred to the fact that the suspect several times ignored the orders of the police officers present at the scene, and that he threw down his belongings, undressed and showed his genitals at the police station.
“When the officers told the suspect that he had an exemplary function, he paid no heed. He found it nonsense that he was arrested for, in his view, a simple accident. The Military Court finds this behaviour, especially for a military man who is a guest in St. Maarten, highly inappropriate.”
As a result of the crash, the victim suffered a whiplash and a hematoma on the chest. To this day, the victim suffers from pain and health problems due to the accident. The victim was also unable to carry out her work for several months, and remains limited in her daily life. The Court also noted that the accident caused quite a stir in St. Maarten.
The Court further concluded that the suspect had come in contact with police and justice before, that in 2015 he was sentenced for drunk driving, and that in 2017, he was caught again having consumed too much alcohol while behind the wheel.
During the handling of the case, the suspect pointed out that he had private problems at the time of the accident and that the crash had a lot of impact on him, also mentally, for which he received treatment. He has offered his apologies to the victim. O. was sentenced to three months in a jail cell at the Military Penitentiary Centre in Stroe.
The Court awarded damages to the victim for an amount of 11,540.81 euros plus interest since the day of the accident. Citing the multiple injuries that the victim suffered, the Court remarked that it concerned a “heavy accident with a long medical aftermath.”
