PHILIPSBURG--A 28-year-old gypsy taxi driver was acquitted by the Court of Instance of mistreatment charges Thursday. The Prosecutor's Office had held B.O.L.H. responsible for having stabbed Dutch St. Maarten Taxi Association President Ottis Hughes during a fight outside Caravanserai Resort on January 23.
Prosecutor Marleen Overmeer had requested to find B.O.L.H. guilty of the incident in which Hughes was stabbed in his hand, but without imposing a sentence.
This request was motivated by considerable hiatuses in the case file, which had led Hyman's attorney Geert Hatzmann to request the judge to declare the prosecutor's case against his client inadmissible.
Judge Monique Keppels did not go that far. She did, however, come to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence in the case file to link the suspect to the incident and acquitted him.
B.O.L.H. was absent during the hearing, but according to his lawyer, his client had admitted he had been involved in the incident, which had taken place during a fight over a client.
The lawyer, however, contested the legality of this statement, contending that it was not given in the presence of a lawyer, and that it was given before the suspect had had the chance to consult his lawyer.
According to Hatzmann, the victim had not provided the name or a description of his assailant, while witnesses had only stated that the taxi driver was stabbed by "a gypsy."
"My client's name is not mentioned anywhere," said Hatzmann, who claimed that there had not been any suspicion against his client, who had therefore been unlawfully detained for 10 days.
Prosecutor Overmeer did not agree and said the suspect could be linked to the incident by his car's licence plate number, which witnesses had provided to the police.
After being contacted by the police, B.O.L.H. had turned himself in. Upon questioning, he had admitted his involvement in the altercation, but had refused to give a more detailed statement.
According to reports, the gypsy driver became angry when legal taxis were taking
the fares from outside Bliss nightclub, and accused two of them of stealing the food from his mouth.
When a third legal taxi arrived, driven by Hughes, there was a verbal confrontation between the two men, after which the gypsy driver went to his vehicle, then returned and stabbed Hughes.
Hughes sustained two stab wounds to his hand and had to be admitted to St. Maarten Medical Center.
Emergency meetings of various taxi associations were held after the incident, while taxi drivers also gathered at the Government Administration Building to confront government with the problems concerning illegal taxi drivers.
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