My name is Joel Reiph and I read the article that was published in The Daily Herald in November 2020. That article gave me the courage to write my story to you.
In 2017 I was convicted of an armed robbery and I paid my debt to society and was released in 2020. Upon my release in 2020 I was back in society and unfortunately I was associating myself with friends I had before and these friends were already being investigated by detectives and the prosecutor for robberies that I could not have been involved in because I was just released out of prison.
Unknowingly, the phone of my friends were tapped and conversations I had with them were being monitored together with my past and misinterpreted conversations. The prosecutor decided to abuse its power and lump me in the arrest of my friends, of the robberies that I could have never been involved in because of my release from prison at that time.
Based on the phone tap the prosecutor used conversations such as, “Bro you got your clothes ready?” and for instance, “the place open” and “I going to check you later” to place me under arrest, but even though that is already a terrible situation, what is even more terrible is that I have been incarcerated from March 3, 2020 until the present based solely on these conversations and a search of my home that produced absolutely nothing. Even more terrible is the fact that I have been put in solitary confinement since September 2020 without any provocation to be in solitary confinement.
Since my incarceration in March 2020 I have been questioned by detectives and prosecutor only once, so in eight months without any evidence that would prove my guilt whatsoever, I have been behind bars.
It’s very convenient for the prosecutor to look at my past and use that to punish me even though there is no credible evidence, and this is a prime example of the abuse of power that the prosecutor is using. The prosecutor is trying all different scenarios to come out with a win of this case and is not interested in the truth. The prosecutor is using their power to mislead and exaggerate the facts, in fact the lack of facts, to unlawfully incarcerate me.
During my incarceration my girlfriend has brought my son of less than a month into this world. Because of the above abuse of power, I am unable to produce and take care of my family. Knowing that my girlfriend was pregnant at my first release I had decided to change my life to provide for my family, but the prosecutor used my past against me.
I know I have made stupid mistakes in the past, but I was young and foolish. I am 24 years old now and I would like the opportunity to make a better life for me and my family, but the prosecutor is not allowing me that opportunity.
An example of this is the current Qredit opportunity that is currently going on for the citizens of St. Maarten. If it was not for the abuse of power of the prosecutor, I could have participated in such an opportunity which could have changed my life completely.
I hope my story has given you another example of how the prosecutor abuses its power, and that the Parliament of St. Maarten continues to look into and be critical of the Criminal Procedure Code and ultimately lessens the power of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of St. Maarten.
Joel Reiph
