PHILIPSBURG–An eighteen-year-old juvenile was charged with seven counts of armed robbery and of possession of a firearm during Wednesday’s criminal sitting in the Court of First Instance.
The crimes mentioned in the provisional summons were allegedly committed April 15 and April 16, and include thefts with violence, car theft and armed robberies at Jasmine and Marty’s bars.
During these robberies several items were taken under threat and in one case gunshots were fired, the Prosecutor said Wednesday.
Suspect A.A.G. was arrested April 16 in Guana Bay. His co-defendant confessed to the alleged crimes. He was not detained because he is a minor.
The police are still searching for a third suspect. A sweater, which presumably belongs to him has been sent to the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) for DNA investigations.
Earlier this year, G. was sentenced to conditional youth detention for involvement in an armed robbery in Simpson Bay. Pending the trial hearing, which was set for October 10, the Prosecutor called upon the Court to uphold the defendant’s pre-trial detention, as he already had his chance half a year ago. In spite of that, he had committed new crimes while on probation. “You do the crime, you do the time,” the Prosecutor said.
Attorney-at-law Safira Ibrahim, who is among the pro-bono lawyers on the continued strike for payment by government, pleaded with the Court to lift her client’s preliminary detention.
She said he has been detained for three months, whereas his co-defendant is still a free man. “Why would my client’s release, therefore, frustrate the investigations,” she wondered.
The lawyer informed the Court that her client was forced to do his final exams within the prison’s confines. “The results are not yet known,” she said.
The judge said G. had already been given a chance. “You should have received youth detention, but it seemed you were going in the right direction in having a job at Holland House Beach Resort. Now you are here with seven suspicions against you. Now, the risk of recidivism weighs more heavily than your personal interests in being a free man,” the judge told the defendant.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/78749-youngster-charged-with-seven-armed-robberies
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