PHILIPSBURG--The Joint Court of Justice, on Thursday, acquitted a 25-year-old woman, who was charged with mistreatment with a weapon.
The Prosecutor’s Office had filed for appeal against the decision of the Court of First Instance of November 3, 2016, in which T.T. was acquitted of the charge.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, it could be legally and convincingly proven that T.T. had mistreated a young girl by throwing a rock on the back of her head on September 4, 2016, and had caused injury.
The defendant threw the rock when she saw her ex-partner’s new girlfriend sitting in the living room in her ex’s house. She had told the Court that she had looked through the window before throwing the rock and had not seen anyone else present.
At that moment, however, the new girlfriend was busy brushing her daughter’s hair; instead of hitting the “rival,” her daughter was injured by the rock.
According to the Solicitor General, T.T. had insufficiently ascertained if there were more persons in the room who could have been hit by the rock. As the defendant did not do this, the Solicitor General said she had taken the risk that somebody else could have been hurt, therefore, he considered mistreatment proven.
The Joint Court did not agree. The three-judge panel stated that it could not be proven that the defendant knowingly and willingly had taken the risk to hit the little girl.
“It was the defendant’s intention to hit her ex-partner’s new friend with a rock,” the Court stated.
As it could not be established whether the defendant could have seen the girl or not, and it could not be proven that she had been aware of the girl’s presence, the Joint Court decided to uphold the acquittal.
