Detained officers get
extended detention
PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor’s Office was granted a sixty-day extension of the detention of two police officers currently being held in the Pointe Blanche house of detention on extortion charges, last Friday.
Prosecutor Johan de Vrieze said Wednesday that the two officers probably would be taken to court March 6 or 7, if all went well. He said the Prosecutor’s Office had taken several statements from witnesses and from the officers.
The Daily Herald has learnt that through their legal representatives, the officers in question were challenging the authenticity of the allegations against them.
De Vrieze said there was sufficient evidence to take the matter to trial. He said there was no doubt that the matter was delicate, as it always was when civil servants were being investigated. He said the fact that civil servants were involved made it more important for clarity on the issue, that a judge decide their fate rather than it being left up to the Prosecutor’s Office.
He said there was no pressure from anyone within the local community to prosecute the two officers and the Prosecutor’s Office was and would remain an independent body.
Brigadier J.A. and Corporal A.C. were detained early in January, after it was alleged that they had extorted money from several Chinese nationals whom they had originally detained as illegal residents, in exchange for their freedom.
A Chinese businessman was also detained and is also being held at the Pointe Blanche prison pending the outcome of the trial.
St Maarten vacation rental
