Teenager sent to prison
for robbing tourist couple
PHILIPSBURG--An eighteen-year-old St. Maartener was sentenced to seventeen months on Wednesday for robbing a tourist couple from Russia and the Ukraine in the Maho area. The cases against three other suspects were postponed until a later date, while a fourteen-year-old suspect was acquitted of all charges.
Jamal Mario Matilda admitted he had attacked and robbed the tourist couple on June 24 together with four others. They were armed with machetes and had robbed the couple outside Food Express Supermarket. Both tourists sustained injuries as a result of the attack and were robbed of a golden necklace, money and a handbag.
Matilda told Judge Rob Goossens he was sorry for what he had done. He said he had been driven to this crime because his mother had arrears in rent payment and was in dire financial straits in providing for her four children.
Prosecutor Rienk Mud said he considered it proven that Matilda had participated in the violent robbery and in stealing a Daihatsu Charade that had been used as a getaway car. He said crimes like these were very serious, and were making headlines in the newspapers. “These crimes are putting St. Maarten in a bad light,” he said.
Prosecutor Mud admitted that putting a youngster behind bars would not be the best solution, but he said he had no other choice that to request an 18-month prison sentence.
Attorney-at-law Thijs Jan Leysen pleaded for an alternative sentence, indicating that sending his client to jail would mean that he would forfeit his chances of graduating from St. Maarten Vocational Training School.
Judge Rob Goossens said it was imperative to prevent Matilda from derailing even more, adding that he considered the Prosecutor’s demand to be “rather mild.” Nevertheless, he granted a one-month reduction in the sentence because Matilda had overspent his time in the police station by one week.
