Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
By Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – Former Member of Parliament Romain Laville will have to wait until May 11 for the outcome of his trial, because his the court granted his attorney Shaira Bommel’s request to hear several witnesses at the Judge of Instruction.
Laville has been charged with threatening the lives of former MP Jules James on June 11, 2012 and steel pan icon Isidore York on November 23 of the same year. “I will fucking ill you,†Laville allegedly told James in front of the parliament building back in 2012.
When officers of the National detective agency came to arrest him on March 26 of last year, they found a firearm at his home and Laville is thus also charged with firearm possession.
Attorney Bommel wants to hear witnesses who were present during the alleged threats. She also contests that her client had an illegal firearm because he had a license and he had filed a request for an extension.
Prosecutor Martin van Nes considered the request for the extension irrelevant: “what matters is whether he had a permit on the day, or not,†he said.
“The procedure is unclear and my client filed his request for an extension in a timely manner,†Bommel persisted. “Under such circumstances you cannot have a case of illegal firearm possession. It is unclear what people have to do when their permit threatens to expire.â€
Van Nes stuck to his guns: “There was no permit,†he said.
The court decided to allow hearing the witnesses all the same.
