PHILIPSBURG--Following the conviction of two of his friends, who were sentenced in December 2011 for having raped a 15-year-old girl on April 12, 2011, her boyfriend at the time was convicted Wednesday of the same crime.
Just as the other young men, the 17-year year old defendant denied involvement in the incident, during which a girl had been raped by three boys inside a car wreck in the so-called "Monkey Bush" in Dutch Quarter.
The boys claimed the sex had been consensual, but the girl said she had been forced to have sex with several boys.
Her 17-year-old boyfriend also denied the allegations. He even went as far as stating he would slap the girl for telling lies, a statement which did not sit very well with Prosecutor Dounia Benammar. "A badass attitude in court is not a good idea," she said.
The defendant told Judge Monique Keppels his girlfriend had wanted to have sex with him, but he had declined because of her young age. He said his friends had wanted him to help "setting her up," but claimed he had not been present when his friends had intercourse with her.
The victim had told the Police that two boys had had intercourse with her, and that her boyfriend had kissed her, but did not have sex with her.
The Prosecutor fulminated against the boy's overall attitude during the hearing.
The defendant responded to questions in a mix of "St. Maarten English" and street language, which the judge found very hard to understand without the intervention of an interpreter.
The 17-year-old was also found guilty of involvement in the armed robbery of a student near Sheik's supermarket on L.B. Scott Road. The youngster was robbed of his mobile phone under threat with a machete in the December 2, 2011 incident.
The Prosecutor said she found it proven the defendant had been involved in the violent rape, during which the girl was threatened, had to take her clothes off, and was tied up within the confines of a small car without any possibility to escape.
"It was rape and the defendant took part in it," the Prosecutor said, adding that rape and armed robbery are punishable by five to seven years.
She stated the defendant had not taken responsibility for his acts, and needed structure in his life.
The Prosecutor asked the Judge to impose 63 days, equal to the time already spent in pre-trial detention. She further requested 18 months, which were to be suspended, with three years' probation, 240 hours of community service, and guidance by the Court of Guardianship or a probation officer.
Attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann agreed that his client was guilty of theft, but he considered theft with violence a too severe qualification.
He pleaded for his client's acquittal of rape, because he counted no less than nine contradictions as well as nine "illogical elements" in the victim's statements to the Police and Judge of Instruction.
"I was there when she was questioned by the Judge of Instruction, and she gave a matter-of-fact and emotionless account of what had happened, as if it had been a night out at the cinema," Hatzmann claimed.
The lawyer dismissed the girl's statements as "highly unreliable," and said she had probably succumbed to peer-pressure. "That is not very edifying. It is despicable, but not punishable," Hatzmann stated.
Judge Keppels found the theft with violence proven, but added it could not be proven that the defendant had been wielding the machete.
She said that despite the many contradictions in the different statements there were still enough elements to consider rape proven.
The judge found the 17-year-old guilty of second-degree rape as an accessory. "You were there, and were contributory to preventing the girl from fleeing the scene of the crime."
The Judge followed the Prosecutor's demand where the 63 days, the community service and guidance were concerned. The suspended sentence, however, was lowered to 15 months.
Local government Financial Services Authority (FSA) David Beckham Sweden Simon Cowell Lake District
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