StMaartenNews

Maho shooting was self-defense: Prosecution asks no punishment for attempted manslaughter

June 29, 2017

GREAT BAY – Hector Seferino L.-C. was within his rights when he fired shots at two rastas who assaulted him near the Platinum Room in Maho on the evening of April 22 and the public prosecutor asked the court to drop charges of attempted manslaughter against him. However, the prosecutor found the 30-year-old defendant guilty of firearm possession; for that infringement, he demanded 20 months of imprisonment, with 6 months suspended and 3 years of probation. The court will pronounce its verdict on July 19,
The court posed numerous questions to the defendant about the way things went down that Saturday evening. How long did he have the gun? For some time did he always take it with him to work? No, only on the night of the shooting.
Video footage from the shooting, that sent six police cars towards Maho around 8 p.m., taken from cameras at the Platinum Room and Maho, show how the defendant arrives in a car on the parking lot, soon followed by another car from which two men emerge.
One of these men was identified as Alfred by the police, the other one as A.K., reportedly the bodyguard of Nino Thewet, who was shot to death on March 14 at his car wash on Arch Road.
The video shows that A.K. begins shooting and that the defendant returned fire. The attackers flee the scene, keeping their gun trained on the car behind which the defendant was taking cover. Hector L.-C. decided to pursue the men, holding a gun in his right hand, but it remains unclear whether he fired any more shots.
In court, the defendant denied he had done so and video footage confirms his statement.
Why he ran after the attackers? “I wanted to make sure they did not come back.”
The cause of the argument between the men and the subsequent shooting is reportedly an argument about a girl. “I think that there is more to it, but that does not appear from the dossier,’ the judge said.
The public prosecutor said that there is little doubt about what happened, but that returning fire was a proportional reaction. “Attempted manslaughter is proven, but this was a case of self-defense and in that situation the defendant is no punishable.” The prosecutor asked the court to drop these charges.