Monday, March 20, 2023 will forever be etched in the memory of this 80-year-old retiree who came to spend a few days on vacation in Saint-Martin. It must have been a day like the previous ones since his arrival on the island: sunny, and happy, carried by the warmth of the inhabitants of this island.
As often in the morning, traffic is blocked in Sandy-Ground by the lifting of the bridge. Our pensioner, taking advantage of the good life and the morning freshness, is stationary, window open, when all of a sudden, an individual, arriving on a scooter, tries to snatch a necklace from the victim. The latter does not let it go and the perpetrator leaves with part of the loot. Just recovering from this attack, she was the victim of a second assault by the same author who returned this time armed with a revolver to be given the rest of the pensioner's property on vacation. But faced with his resistance, and seeing that onlookers were beginning to approach, the perpetrator of the attack ended up delivering a violent blow to the face of the octogenarian before fleeing. Quickly on the scene, the gendarmes collect essential elements for the conduct of the investigation. Despite the speed of the investigations, and the constitution of a solid judicial file under the leadership of the Vice-Prosecutor, the defendant will try once again to attack an American tourist also in his vehicle.
The gendarmes of Saint-Martin managed to arrest the assailant last week and presented him to the court of Basse-Terre which ordered the imprisonment of the author for 4 years for the facts related above. “Security is a major issue on the island of Saint-Martin, whose economic model is largely based on tourism,” emphasizes Lieutenant Colonel Wintzer-Wehekind.
“The fight against willful attacks on people's physical integrity is one of the priorities we have set ourselves. Saint-Martinois and tourists must be able to stroll the streets of the island without fear. To do this, my gendarmes deploy all their energy on a daily basis, but they can do nothing without the cooperation of the population. Security is everyone's business, because as the criminologist Lacassagne said: societies only have the criminals they deserve”.
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