Heyliger hits at ‘barbaric’ crime
~ Calls for swift justice ~
St. Maarten--Commissioner of Tourism Theo Heyliger on Wednesday labelled the crime against two gay men in Beacon Hill last week “barbaric” and called for “swift justice” to minimise the damage for the island.
The crime, popularly referred to as “gay-bashing,” has government’s attention, assured Heyliger in remarks at the St. Maarten Executive Council’s weekly press briefing. However, he said he wouldn’t go into too many details, as it had been agreed to have only the Prosecutor’s Office speak out publicly on the matter.
He said authorities had decided that they would speak with “one voice” and that dissemination of information, keeping the public abreast, would be in the hands of the Prosecutor, who is conducting the investigation together with police.
Heyliger said having too many persons making statements on this issue not only wouldn’t help to solve this crime, but there would also be the risk of “speaking against St. Maarten.” “St. Maarten is now the most important issue,” he said.
Heyliger said that apart from the Prosecutor’s Office and police, meetings had been held with the private sector, including St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) and the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce, as well as the counterparts in French St. Martin.
A crisis community plan has been created, said Heyliger, without divulging any details. The more than 500 e-mails that have been received from concerned persons, especially from abroad, will be dealt with through a data bank that has been set up.
Heyliger explained that each e-mail was being answered with a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, through the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau. He said people were being informed that St. Maarten doesn’t accept these kinds of crimes and that the search is on for the perpetrators, because, he added, “These kinds of crimes won’t go unpunished in St. Maarten.”
Heyliger said the e-mails as well as the international media coverage on major US TV networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, articles in the newspapers abroad, and chat-boards would be monitored.
He said it was “too early” for a marketing campaign to counter the effects of the negative international publicity the island has been getting from this incident. He said the only way to minimise the damage to the tourism product was to catch the persons who had committed this crime. He said hopefully this would happen shortly. He said there was a contingency plan for afterwards.
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