Main suspect faces 10 years
for beating American gays
PHILIPSBURG--Prosecutor Taco Stein took a firm stance against the three men and one woman who are suspected of having severely beaten two male tourists from the U.S. in the Maho area on April 6.
Ryan Smith and Richard Jefferson, employees of the CBS News show 48 Hours, were both beaten severely by a group of people.
Smith and friends were patronising Bamboo Bernie’s and ran into the suspects, who expressed outrage at Smith for his sexual preference. Both Smith and Jefferson are homosexuals. The situation turned ugly and one of suspects, A.H.D. (20), a resident of Concordia on the French side, reportedly tried to hit the victims with a chair, after which his group was thrown out of the establishment. However, they proceeded to attack Smith and company after they had exited the establishment.
Jefferson recovered shortly after the incident, but Smith suffered massive brain damage and was unable to speak properly for several months.
Prosecutor Stein considered M.S.J. (21) a.k.a. “Duracell” of Guadeloupe to be the main suspect. He found it legally and convincingly proven that Duracell had attacked both victims with a wheel wrench after he tried to run them over with his car. He asked the judge to impose a 10-year prison sentence for attempted murder.
Duracell himself denied any involvement in the incident, although all other suspects were pointing their fingers in his direction as the one who had wielded the wrench.
For suspects A.H.D. and G.R.C. (21), who allegedly had been fighting with the victims, the prosecutor requested five-year prison sentences for public violence.
The only female suspect, M.F.D. (18) of Marigot, heard the prosecutor request three years because she had kicked one of the victims while he was unconscious.
Both the prosecutor and the suspects’ lawyers explained at length that this case was not an incident of “gay bashing” as it had been presented in the media, especially in the United States.
However, Stein admitted the incident had shocked the world, and especially the worldwide gay community. “Being gay was not the issue here,” Stein pointed out, “but meaningless violence to annoy other people. These suspects were out there to cause trouble.”
The suspects’ lawyers all tried to downplay the roles played by their clients. All stressed that their clients had turned themselves in to the police. They pleaded for the acquittal of their clients, while attorney-at-law Zylena Bary asked for a psychological report on her client’s state of mind.
Judge Bosch will present his decisions tomorrow, Thursday, at 1:30pm.
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