News SXM

Four prisoners from Sint Maarten with varying sentences for crimes including murder, manslaughter, bodily harm, and sexual assault of a minor were transferred this month to prison facilities in the Netherlands due to safety concerns. Three more prisoners are set to be transferred by the end of the month for similar reasons.

On Wednesday, May 10, 2023, multiple searches have been conducted under the direction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (RC) at the suspects residence and workplaces in Sint Maarten. On the same day more searches have been conducted at the residences of other accomplices.

A suspected high ranking member of the criminal organisation ‘No Limit Soliders’ (NLS) by the initials C.S.H has been extradited from the United Kingdom to the Dutch Kingdom. He remains in custody.

On  18 March 2023, the Member of Parliament of Sint Maarten, arrested on 17 March, has been released from custody. He remains a suspect in the ongoing a criminal investigation called "Lissabon".

On Friday, March 17, 2023, the Criminal Investigation Team RST arrested a Member of Parliament of Sint Maarten. In addition, searches were conducted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate RC at the suspect's residence and his workplace at the Parliament Building in Sint Maarten.

The body of the late Ossie Laville had no signs of violence, according to the autopsy report. The details of the report were shared last week with his next of kin by the Prosecutor’s Office. Laville was found death in HvB cell in Sint Maarten on 27 January 2023.

The remaining two suspects in the “Aquamarine II” criminal case both signed an out-of-court settlement with the Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, for their part in the case. 

The Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten has sentenced a prison guard for smuggling 122 grammes of marijuana into the House of Detention in Point Blanche as well as for the abuse of office.

The Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten sentenced a man on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, for the act of wrongful death in a traffic situation. The death resulted from a vehicle accident on Welfare Road, Cole Bay, on 31 July 2022.

The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM has responded to eleven school-related fights since the resumption of classes after the Christmas break on January 3. These fights among school-going children have been growing more violent with at least one case of a boy being stabbed by a fellow student. These latest fights coupled with those from the start of the 2022-2023 school year number more than thirty and these only count the ones officially reported to authorities.

Two former top civil servants have been handed jail sentences by the Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, in a long-term investigation called ‘Seabass’.

Two men were convicted of perjury by the Court of First Instance on Sint Maarten on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.

The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM, in collaboration the Prosecutor’s Office OM SXM, is offering a NAf 3,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for injuring a four-month-old girl on Airport Road in the vicinity of Banco di Caribe.

On Monday 19 December 2022, the Recherche Samenwerkingsteam (RST), under the supervision of the Judge of Instruction RC, conducted searches at the homes of two suspects at three residences in Sint Maarten and Curaçao.

The Court of Appeal on Sint Maarten has convicted a woman for driving under the influence of alcohol and causing danger on the public road. This verdict overturns the one rendered by the Court of First Instance in November 2021.

Several comments on social media regarding the hit-an-run accident on Sucker Garden Road, which occurred on Sunday, November 22, 2022, have caught the attention of law enforcement. In particular, these concern comment threads that refer to the victim, a well-known local activist, was being deliberately struck down and killed.

KPSM and OM SXM dismiss this misinformation circulating on social media and request that the community allows space for the investigation to continue unhindered.

The Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten has sentenced a thirty-year-old man to eighteen years imprisonment for shooting a pregnant woman in her belly on Boxing Day, December 26, 2021. The woman’s unborn baby did not survive the shooting. She also lost her uterus in the attack.

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten (31 October 2022) - The Aquamarine investigation was launched in September 2016

The Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten has recently handed down sentences to three sex offenders.

The two convicts in the “Thorium” case have been arrested by United States law enforcement. The arrests were made on the request of the Office of the Attorney General of Curacao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba. The two were arrested in Fulton County, Georgia.

The Prosecutor’s Office Sint Maarten OM SXM will not lay charges against Police Constable R. following a fact-finding investigation executed by the National Detectives [in Dutch: Landsrecherche].The investigation was in response to reports/complaints about the officer’s conduct towards colleagues.

On Thursday July 7, 2022, the Court of First Instance ruled in the case against the suspects B.E.H.S. and J.D.W..

Philipsburg - The Court of First Instance of Sint Maarten sentenced 20-year-old J.L.A.M. to 20 years in prison on Wednesday, July 6, 2022.

The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM and the Prosecutor’s Office OM SXM have launched a murder investigation into the death of the octogenarian

The Prosecutor’s Office OM SXM, together with the Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM, has delivered its report on the March 2022 ransomware attack

The “Domestic Violence and Mediation” project, a restorative justice initiative, launched by Stichting Justitiële Inrichtingen St. Maarten (SJIS) and the Prosecutor’s Office OM Sint Maarten, was one of the initiatives recently presented to the Sint Maarten Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resilience Trust Fund steering committee.

Sexual abuse is a very traumatic experience and is often an under-reported crime, especially when the victim is a minor, one of the most vulnerable groups in the community. Victims of sexual crimes are, therefore, encouraged, by justice authorities to report such crimes to the Police. The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM and the Prosecutor’s Office OM are committed to the continued investigation and prosecution of suspects of such criminal acts.

The Prosecutor’s Office has asked for eighteen years imprisonment for the suspect in the fatal Dawn Beach shooting that occurred on May 8, 2021. The case was heard by the Court of First Instance in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.

Fighting and preventing further crimes in the community are not only dependent on putting (suspected) criminals behind bars; it is also essential to cut off the ill-acquired funds that drive criminality. The Prosecutor’s Office OM Sint Maarten is putting more emphasis on this front.

Looking back over the past four years, a significant amount of money has been confiscated in various cases, ranging from as little as NAf 10 to US $232,900.

On the night of Wednesday, 11 May 2022, and Thursday, May 12, 2022, the Recherche Samenwerkingsteam (RST) arrested three people and conducted searches at three houses and at the addresses of two businesses on Sint Maarten under the supervision of the investigating magistrate.

On Monday, May 9, 2022, the substantive hearing of the criminal case against four suspects in the Themis investigation started before the Court of First Instance.

Fourteen members of the Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM are now equipped with the skills to identify and screen cases suitable for mediation. They are now actively involved in the ongoing “Domestic Violence and Mediation Project, a restorative justice initiative, launched by Stichting Justitiële Inrichtingen St. Maarten (SJIS) and the Prosecutor’s Office OM Sint Maarten.

The Court of Appeal has sentenced two men to prison times of twenty and eighteen years each for a 2018 fatal shooting outside adult entertainment club El Capitan in Sucker Garden. This verdict, rendered on Thursday, overturned the part of the decision of the Court of First Instance in 2020 that let the men go free.

The Court of First Instance on Sint Maarten has found notary M.M. guilty of breaching secrecy and has sentenced her for her actions in the case codenamed “Bangkok”.

The Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM and the Prosecutor’s Office Sint Maarten are handling three cases of suspected sexual crimes committed against minors. Police have made arrests related to all three instances.

A suspected human smuggler in Sint Maarten has had his pre-trial detention extended by sixty days as of Monday, March 14, 2022.

The Joint Court of Justice has sentenced K. F. (44) from Grenada to life imprisonment for committing the murder and manslaughter of the victims L.S. D. and E. R. in a hotel room at the Simpson Bay Resort in Sint Maarten, on December 5, 2016.

With this verdict the court upheld the verdict handed down by the Court of First Instance.

It’s community service, (conditional) jail time, and the mandatory attendance to the SJIS Probation Office’s “Safe Homes” training for a man convicted of relational (domestic) violence by the Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

Businessman and former Member of Parliament (MP) S.M. has been convicted by the Court of First Instance to twenty-two months imprisonment and has had a prior conditional sentence of eighteen months from a previous case converted also into jail time.

The Court of First Instance has sentenced 18-year-old shooter J.B. to mandatory intensive forensic psychological treatment (referred to by the Dutch acronym PIJ) for a duration of two years. This is significantly different from what was demanded by the Prosecutor’s Office OM Sint Maarten.

The OM has appealed this verdict rendered in the March 2020 fatal Sucker Garden shooting case as handed down by the Court on Tuesday, 1 February 2022.

The suspect in the Ginger Island Drive shooting has had his pre-trial detention extended by sixty (60) days by the instructing judge on Monday, January 24, 2022.

The suspect in the Boxing Day shooting has had his pre-trial detention extended by sixty days on today, Monday, January 17, by the instructing judge on Sint Maarten.

A man, who was arrested by police on January 9, for suspected mistreatment of his current partner has had his pre-trial detention extended by eight days by the instructing judge on Wednesday January 12, 2022.

The Prosecutor’s Office has adjusted its public opening hours as of January 3, 2022. The office is now open to the public in the morning and afternoon.

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - C.B., a Member of Parliament was sentenced by The Court of First Instance to an unconditional prison sentence of thirty-two (32) months and to a 7-year ban on holding public office for his role in the Ruby case.

Prosecutor Hieke Buist has been appointed as Sint Maarten’s new Chief Prosecutor as of January 1, 2022. The Kingdom Council of Ministers formalized her appointment in its meeting of Thursday, 13 December 2021.

A firefighter was sentenced this week by the Court of First Instance on Wednesday for threat with a firearm and for illegal firearm possession. He was sentenced to 24 months imprisonment, of which 12 months are conditional.

A Philipsburg supermarket has been ordered by the Court of First Instance to pay a fine of NAf 700 for selling items considered medicines by law. Those items include creams and ointments such as Vick’s Vapor Rub.

The fine for parking violations has been increased for several “hot spots” around the country as part of a joint effort by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Force of St. Maarten KPSM to aid the better flow of traffic and increase road safety for the busy holiday and tourist seasons.

The Court of Appeal has sentenced a man, R.I.L.V., to fifteen years in prison for manslaughter. The crime occurred near Marina Bar in Dutch Quarter on October 12, 2019. The victim “Nicio” was shot in the head.