Source Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY –Three people who were involved in a fight on Back Street on St. Maarten day last year, each received a sentence on Wednesday February 22, of 50 hours of community service, of which 25 hours are suspended. The court imposed 2 years of probation. Handling the case took well over two hours.
The four defendants are Librado Gumbs (46), Nicaudi Zugeidi Vivenes Gerardo (33), Santa Gerardo (52) and Sony Javier M. (36).
The fight broke out after a cussing contest with a 51-year old man whom Nicaudi Gerardo had accused of sexually assaulting her daughter. The public prosecutor said during the trial that these allegations have been investigated and that there is no proof to justify prosecuting this man.
The three defendants were not only accused of committing public violence, but also of resisting arrest. That charge was also brought against Sony M. The court acquitted all defendants of this second charge.
Santa Gerardo was accused of stealing a radio from one of the police officers, but the court found no evidence for it and acquitted her.
The judge agreed with the public prosecutor that the four had sought the confrontation and that this provocation had triggered a reaction – their intended victim came at them with a machete.
“The defendants should have walked away but instead they started throwing with anything and everything.”
The judge noted that one of the arresting police officer, who is the son-in-law of the man Gerardo has accused of sexual assault, seemed to have used violence against the defendants because of his personal involvement, “He claims that the defendants resisted arrest but that does not appear from the dossier.”
