By Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – The Court in First Instance will handle the Eddie York murder case on May 25. Yesterday, two suspects in the case appeared briefly in court for a pro forma hearing – Jannie Elizabeth Y. (33) and Renaldo Hildario Othniel Y. (21).
Prosecutor Maarten van Nes told the court that the investigation has not been completed yet. There is an outstanding request for judicial assistance at the French side (for hearing a witness) and data from phones have not been extracted yet. The prosecution is also awaiting a psychiatric report about Renaldo Y. A report from the probation office about Jannie Y. has been completed.
Attorney Shaira Bommel asked the court to terminate or suspend the pretrial detention of her client Jannie Y., who was arrested on September 16 of last year and has been incarcerated ever since. “There are insufficient serious objections,” the attorney said. “The only thing the prosecution has is an incriminating statement from her co-defendant.”
Bommel questioned the reliability of this statement and said her client maintains that she has nothing to do with her father’s death.
Prosecutor Van Nes objected to the attorney’s request, saying that there was more evidence against the suspect, and Judge Peter Lemaire agreed. He cited the “shocked legal order” adding that “there is no more serious crime thinkable than murder.” The judge said that the interest of society to keep Y. behind bars outweighs her personal interest in going home.
Eddie York was found dead in the bedroom of his home in Upper Princess Quarter on December 31, 2014.
Jannie Y. told the Judge of Instruction in September of last year that she had not put any land belonging to her late father in her name, “Me and my dad went to notary Mingo. My father had 26 children and I was his favorite. I miss my dad, I wish he was here. All rumors are false.”
The suspect furthermore told the judge that she had problems with the law before, for threats “after I had been threatened by my sister.”
Renaldo Y. more or less told investigators that he had killed Eddie York at the instructions of his sister Jannie. The latter denies this.
Eddie York murder trial moved to the end of May
