‘Duracell’ sentence cut
in half by Appeal Court
PHILIPSBURG--The Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba on Thursday cut in half the six-year prison sentence meted out by the Judge in the Court of First Instance in November 2006 against Michel Steeve “Duracell” Javois.
Judge Jan Harmen Bosch of the Court of First Instance had considered it proven that the now 22-year-old man from Guadeloupe had committed an act of public violence in which he had inflicted severe bodily harm upon Ryan Smith and Richard Jefferson, two homosexuals from the United States, with a wheel wrench near Sunset Beach Bar on April 6, 2006.
This conviction was mainly based on the statement of one of the victims who said he recognised his attacker by his “pom-pom” hairstyle.
After Javois had launched his appeal several witnesses were heard who indicated that Javois was not the man with that hairstyle. Therefore, the judges of the Appeal Court found it could not be convincingly proven that Javois had been the man who had been wielding the wheel wrench.
Smith and Jefferson, employees of CBS News show 48 Hours, were both very seriously injured after they were attacked by three men and one woman. Jefferson recovered shortly after the incident, but Smith suffered massive brain damage and was unable to speak properly for several months. Both were violently attacked; objects were thrown at them, they received multiple blows, while Jefferson was also kicked, all because their attackers apparently were offended by their homosexual lifestyle.
Prosecutor Taco Stein took a firm stance against the suspects during the handling of this case in April. He had asked the judge to impose 10 years on Javois, and sentences of five and three years for the other three suspects.
