Prosecutor’s Office Bulletin:
PHILIPSBURG – The Joint Court of Justice postponed on Thursday, June 9, the appeal case against N.B. (Nikerson “Bob” Boireau)
His lawyer, via email, informed the court that he was sick and could not attend the day’s proceedings and represent his client.
The case was postponed till October 5. N.B. was sentenced on June 17, 2015 to 12 years in jail for the death of a two-year-old child, who was entrusted to his care on August 27, 2014.
Posted by Today Newspaper on December 15, 2014
Suspect in child’s death remains in custody
POSTED: 12/15/14 10:07 PM
St. Maarten – Emotions went haywire at the courthouse after Judge Rick Smid ruled that Nikerson (Bob) B. has to remain in custody until his trial comes up on March 4, 2015 .
The 27-year-old is a suspect in the death of D’Jahneiro Kevin Antonio Kaiaro D’Aguiar on August 27 of this year.
The suspect’s parents and five friends and family members showed up in court wearing a shirt that read in big letters Free Bob. After the ruling, the defendant’s mother became emotional and several others shed some tears. “He has already been sentenced,” someone said outside the courtroom, before B.’s attorney Shaira Bommel managed to calm everybody down.
“He did not kill anybody, he was crying when the he realized the child was dead,” one member of the group of seven supporters said.
The pro forma summons charges B. with strangling the child – whose age is not disclosed in the summons – possibly by “wrapping several times objects around the neck or by smothering it by applying violence to the mouth.”
Prosecutor Maarten Noordzij told the court that the investigation is not ready yet and that he proposed March 4 of next year as the new trial date. He asked the court to keep the defendant in pretrial custody. He also asked the court to refer the case to the judge of instruction for a reconstruction of the events that led to the child’s death and for questioning the child’s mother.
Attorney Shaira Bommel said that her client had no objections to the new trial date, but she did ask for the discontinuance or the suspension of his detention. “There are insufficient serious objections to this,” she said, while the defendant’s family and friend followed the procedure in anguished desperation.
“We are only waiting for the report from the Dutch Forensic Institute NFI,” Bommel said. “My client was the baby-sitter and it is unclear whether he is guilty. That is not enough to keep him detained. He is prepared to cooperate with the investigation.”
Prosecutor Noordzij disagreed: “The serious objections are still in place. This is a serious charge and there is no place for a suspension.”
Judge Rick Smid accepted the new trial date of March 4, 2015 and agreed with the prosecutor that there are serious objections to the defendant’s release. “You were the last one who had the child in his care, and it died due to asphyxiation. I understand your desire to be released but that is not going to happen.”
The defendant’s family and friends were dumbstruck by the ruling. Especially his mother became very vocal outside the courtroom, demanding an investigation. Attorney Shaira Bommel managed to calm everybody down. “This investigation will be done in the Netherlands, they will not mess with it. So far, the findings are in your son’s favor. They will establish the time of death and that is very important for showing what really happened.”
