PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance sentenced five persons for involvement in human smuggling to prison terms of ten months to six years and ten months. One suspect was acquitted, Judge Monique Keppels said Tuesday.
Louis Bernard (41) received the most severe punishment for his role in the criminal organisation held responsible for organising various transports of illegal immigrants from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Dominica, Cuba, and Zimbabwe into St. Maarten and from here to the US Virgin Islands in 2010.
Prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks had requested 10 years for Bernard.
The police, Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST, and Coast Guard launched the so-called Cerberus investigations in July 2010, aimed at eradicating human smuggling and eliminating the main players in the organisation.
Bernard had denied involvement in human smuggling, but more than sufficient evidence had been derived from telephone taps, police observations, and statements of co-suspects and witnesses, according to the judge.
The Court also considered membership in a criminal organisation proven, because of the structured nature of the operation.
The judge also found it proven the suspects had not operated out of humanitarian concerns, but had been transporting illegal immigrants for profit. Several persons died during one of the transports after their rickety boat sank off Norman Island.
Taxi driver Erold M. Bolan (64), for whom the prosecutor had requested seven years, was sentenced to four years and 10 months. He claimed he only had been driving passengers back and forth to their hotel, but the judge rejected this statement.
The Court also found it proven he had asked for more than US $1,500 per person for his services.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Louis Saint-Marc (63) heard the judge declare him guilty of human smuggling, after which she sentenced him to four years and 10 months. He had denied any involvement in the alleged crimes, but the prosecutor had requested eight years for him.
Humphrey J. Pisas (60) did not deny his involvement in the operation, but stated he had not been in it for the money. The judge was of another opinion and sentenced him to 23 months, eight of which were suspended, and two years' probation.
Boat captain Griffith O. Joseph (35) of St. Lucia, for whom the prosecutor had requested 30 months, received 10 months. The Court found it proven that he had taken 10 Cuban nationals on board his ship in St. Lucia and Dominica on November 13, 2010, to take them to St. Maarten and from there to US territory.
The Court found it hard to believe that Joseph had not been aware that he was doing something wrong. On arrival in Great Bay he had not taken the Cubans to Immigration, but directly to a taxi that had been waiting for them.
Several passengers also had been on board his ship two months earlier during another trip from St. Lucia to Tortola, where they were arrested by Immigration and extradited to Dominica.
"It must have been clear to the suspect that the trip was no holiday for the people of Cuban descent," the judge wrote in the verdict.
P.C. (61) was the only suspect to escape conviction. Prosecutor Ridderbeks had requested 18 months, but Bolan's co-driver was acquitted because there was no proof of his aid in the human smuggling operation.
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