~ Officer sentenced to three years ~
PHILIPSBURG–The Court of First Instance sentenced suspect Colin Kristensen (60) to seven years in prison on Wednesday for a large number of crimes, among them the sexual abuse of a minor child; the possession, production and distribution of child-pornography; and bribery of a police officer. The judge also ordered the execution of a three-month suspended sentence.
During the January 23 hearing in this case, the Prosecutor demanded a six-year sentence for the suspect. The Court found the defendant guilty of a large number of serious crimes, among them the bribery of former member of the Police Force of St. Maarten Jerry-Lee Valentino Gerardus (43), who had provided Kristensen with forged and antedated police reports in exchange for airline tickets and other gifts.
“Jerry is on my pay-roll,” Kristensen had said about the police officer, according to a witness.
Together, the two defendants had also fenced a number of diamonds in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The diamonds had been looted from a jewellery store and were taken from the police station where they were stored together with other confiscated looted items. The two men had tried to sell the jewellery, but the diamonds proved to be false.
For his crimes, Gerardus was sentenced to three years and the maximum eight-year prohibition on performing the duties of a police officer. The Prosecutor’s Office had called for a five-year ban.
The police officer’s lawyer had called for her client’s full acquittal, but the judge found it proven that Gerardus had violated his pledge of secrecy “time and again.”
The Court held it specifically against both defendants that they had committed the fencing one day after the most severe hurricane in years had damaged the island and disrupted St. Maarten’s society.
“Where others were busy with rescue work and tried to keep the community safe, suspects seized the opportunity and misappropriated the diamonds for their own financial interest with the intention to sell them for the highest price,” the Court stated in the verdict.
The Court found Kristensen also guilty of the sexual abuse of his then-six-year-old daughter. In doing so he had breached the physical and mental integrity of his child, the Court stated.
He was also found guilty of possession of a large quantity of child-pornography, which he also distributed. It concerned both videos and photographs of his own daughter and of unknown children. These crimes were committed between December 2015 and December 2017, according to the Court. Kristensen was arrested on July 6, 2018.
The Court also found Kristensen guilty of possession of 197 grams of cocaine, the only crime to which he had pleaded guilty. Finally, it was also found proven that he had mistreated his landlord using electrical wiring.
Attorney-at-law Shaira Bommel had called for her client’s acquittal of the distribution of child-pornography for lack of evidence and due to the unreliability of witnesses. She claimed the case against her client was based on bias.
According to the defence, her client should also have been fully acquitted of the fencing of diamonds. Bommel said during the trial that the only diamond found at Kristensen’s house concerned a diamond which had belonged to an engagement ring.
The defence also found no proof that Kristensen had mistreated his landlord, as no electrical wiring had been found, and said the bribery charges were a “bizarre story” and “absolute nonsense.” Bommel also said she did not understand why her client was charged with forgery.
She said her client could only be convicted of the possession of a “small quantity” of child pornography and of possession of cocaine, for which a suspended sentence with community service should have been a suitable punishment.
Following the Prosecutor and the lawyer, the Court also found no evidence that Kristensen had been in the possession of a number of Molotov cocktails.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/85202-sex-crimes-suspect-sent-to-prison-for-seven-years
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