St. Maarten – The Court in First Instance sentenced 27-year-old Vera Lindo to a 1-year suspended prison sentence with 2 years of probation for stabbing a female co-worker at the Atlantis Casino (now Starz) in Cupecoy on January20 of this year.
The defendant was waiting for a bus to go home, when the victim approached her and started looking for an argument whereby, at a certain moment, she pulled Lindo’s hair. Then the defendant pulled a big knife from her bag and stabbed her adversary in the back, the belly and a hand. A security guard separated the fighting women.
Prosecutor Nanouk Lemmers considered attempted manslaughter proven. “There was a struggle, the defendant wielded a knife and took the risk that she would hit the victim and that the victim could die.”
The prosecutor acknowledged that the victim attacked first, but that Lindo; reaction was disproportionate. Lindo spent 20 days in pretrial detention but has long since been released. “She does not have to go back to prison,” the prosecutor said. She demanded a 1-year suspended prison sentence, 2 years of probation, 180 hours of community service and supervision by the probation office e.
Attorney Geert Hatzmann noted that there had been tensions between the two women for quite some time. “The video shows how the plaintiff walks up and down, is looking for a fight, and intimidates my client. The witnesses are clear as well: she sought the confrontation and she started using violence.”
Hatzmann said that Lindo could not walk away from the situation because she was waiting for a bus to go home. “She acted under severe emotional stress after being ill-treated by someone much bigger and stronger.”
Hatzmann asked the court to acquit his client or at best to give her a 6-month suspended sentence and to drop the community service.
Suspended sentence for casino stabbing
