Loor stays here
PHILIPSBURG--The summary proceedings into the request to transfer arrested police commissioner Marcel Loor from Pointe Blanche prison to Curaçao have ended and the Judge has ruled that Loor may stay in Pointe Blanche until the sick bay is needed.
Loor, who was detained at his St. John’s Estate home on June 19 by Federal Detectives on charges of committing fraud and accepting bribes, is currently being accommodated in the sick bay, which is a section of Pointe Blanche prison where four beds are available for persons who are injured or ill while detained.
Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein confirmed the court’s decision Tuesday and said that if, for some reason, it would be necessary to put other persons in the beds, Loor would have to be transferred to Bon Futuro Prison in Curaçao.
Plans had already been made for Loor’s transfer two days after his arrest, but that was stopped when his attorney Richard Gibson Jr. filed an injunction to have the process stopped.
In the plea to the Judge of Instruction, Gibson explained that Loor should remain here on St. Maarten where he would have constant access to legal council. He also explained that the possibility of Loor receiving regular visits from his wife would be interrupted if he were sent to Curaçao.
The Judge had initially indicated that for the first 26 days of Loor’s pre-trial detention, he would be allowed to stay at Pointe Blanche prison, but, again, his attorney challenged that decision, requesting that the Prosecutor’s Office not be allowed to send Loor to Curaçao. The 26 days ends this week and Loor would again have to appear before the Judge of Instruction to see whether he will be given a 60-day extension of his pre-trial detention.
The Prosecutor’s Office has 118 days to keep him detained legally before putting him on trial in the Court of First Instance. Meanwhile, Stein said the investigation was progressing smoothly and that while there are allegations that Loor had owned several properties locally, “We are not going to comment on that at the moment.”
