PHILIPSBURG--Three days before his 42nd birthday suspect T.T.C.W. on Wednesday, was discharged from prosecution with his pre-trial detention lifted as the Judge in the Court of First Instance did not hold him accountable for the fatal stabbing of a Dominicano man on July 5.
In dismissing claims he had acted in self-defence, the Prosecutor’s Office had charged W. with manslaughter and had called for a 12-year prison sentence during the December 3 hearing.
Miguel Garcia Fabian was stabbed 10 times during a fight on A.Th. Illidge Road, in the vicinity of A and A Supply. The tragic incident was the culmination of a long-running conflict between the suspect and other residents in the apartment building where he lives.
The victim started the fight and stabbed the defendant first. The suspect retaliated by chasing and stabbing the victim three times – once on the steps of his apartment building, then near Robbie’s Lottery and finally in the alley at the end of A and A Supply’s lumberyard – Prosecutor Maarten Noordzij stated during the hearing.
The victim received 10 stab wounds to his back and all over his body during the chase over a distance of approximately 80 metres, which took approximately two to three minutes.
“The victim literally had to run for his life,” the Prosecutor said in dismissing statements that the suspect did not have the intention to kill. He called the attack “disproportionate, unnecessary and sparked by revenge,” and held the defendant fully accountable for taking a man’s life.
The suspect was also injured in the incident as he was stabbed in his neck. His pregnant wife also became involved in the fight and was beaten by two other women.
Attorney Zylena Bary had called upon the Court to declare the Prosecutor’s case against her client inadmissible as her client was prosecuted and these women were not, which in her eyes constituted a case of unequal treatment.
According to the defence, W. is a staunch defender of family values and is keeping very much to himself. He is wrongly portrayed in the Spanish-speaking community as a “Rambo” and a very aggressive person. The lawyer pleaded for her client’s full acquittal and said he acted in self-defence.
The suspect did not have a criminal record and is considered as a quiet and emotionally stable person, according to the Parole Board.
The Judge found it proven that W. had killed the victim by stabbing him several times in his chest, which constituted manslaughter.
The Court stated that the fatal incident was the culmination of a long-running neighbours’ quarrel and concluded that the defendant had responded to an immediate attack, which had caused such severe emotions that he had “extensively” overstepped the boundaries of a proportionate defence.
It was not considered proven that the defendant had acted out of “pure revenge,” as the Prosecutor had put it. The suspect was declared not punishable and was dismissed of all prosecution.
