PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — On behalf of my clients, I hereby inform the public as follows. My clients and I have no intentions of shying away from their actions and the fact that they will eventually face the consequences for their actions. My clients came to our beautiful island on the occasion of a birthday celebration where things took a turn for the worse during said celebration. My clients deeply regret their behavior and would like to use this opportunity to sincerely apologize to the police officers and the public of Sint Maarten for their conduct.
Clearly, my clients violated the law. However, it is quite hard to turn a blind eye to the manner in which my clients were handled by the police. Unquestionably there has been use of excessive force. In particular, the female client was first knocked to the ground and later on dragged across the street to the police car. This was unnecessary and uncalled for to say the least. The police are trained in how to handle situations such as these, and worse and should have opted to use the methods they were taught.
Proper handling should be at the forefront of each and every engagement with the public. Actions taken by instant reflect or for the sake of retaliation in any given circumstance should not be their go-to. We expect that in carrying out the duty to serve and protect, composures will be maintained and that every individual will be treated as a human. Ultimately, in no circumstance is violence ever countered with violence.
Unfortunately, the action taken on the part of the police, has resulted in my client sustaining multiple injuries which require medical care. One of the injuries appears to be infected and client is also diabetic. To date, she has not been fully granted the basic and proper medical care she requires and is entitled to while being in care of country Sint Maarten.
In this light, it also seems as though the Public Prosecutor office wants to make an example out of my clients. In the past there has been instances where others were sent back to their place of origin for far more serious allegations/crimes while awaiting their court case. This makes me wonder whether my clients would still be incarcerated had the incident not made its rounds on social media. My clients do not pose any danger to and cannot jeopardize the ongoing investigation. I am of the opinion that the pretrial detention is being used as a means to punish them instead while this is not the purpose of the pretrial phase. Moreover, my clients are costing the country money by being incarcerated.
To be continued.
On behalf of my clients.
Sjamira Roseburg, LL.M
Attorney Consider it Solved by Roseburg & Partners
