PHILIPSBURG--The grieving widow of the late André Jack Gumbs, who was stabbed to death in Cay Hill on July 21, 2006, wants the person responsible for her husband’s murder to be found and punished for his or her actions.
Diana Gumbs-Medina, Gumbs’ widow, said although it’s been 11 years since her husband’s murder, authorities have still not solved the crime. She said every time she goes to the Police Station for information on her husband’s case, she is told that there is no new information.
“Eleven years ago today, someone killed my husband and until now no one knows anything,” a visibly sad Gumbs-Medina said. “I want to know what happened and why,” she said. “I am from the Dominican Republic and the Dominican Republic is a big place, if someone gets killed there, the police find who it is. St. Maarten is a small place and a lot of murders happen, and the police are not finding the killers. I want to know if it is that they are not working or is it that they cannot do their jobs,” she said, suggesting that the local police take lessons on solving crimes, and in particular solving murders from the Dominican Republic.
Gumbs, who as 43 at the time, had been stabbed to death on Clove Drive just off the AJC Brouwers Road. Reports indicated at the time that Gumbs was stabbed by unknown person(s) during an altercation on the main road, and managed to climb up the veranda of the house at Clove Drive #30.
At the time of his murder, he worked as a security guard for the then Island Government of St. Maarten, and had been stationed at the Department of Civil Registry (Census Office). He had been residing at Ginger Road in Cay Hill, not too far from where he had been stabbed, at the time. Reports had indicated that he died not seeing his son, who had been living with his mother in the Dominican Republic at the time.
Gumbs-Medina said her husband did not have any enemies, and he was the type of person who went home after work and seldom went out. “He was a good man and a good family man, and no one knows who killed him,” she said. “I don’t want the case to be closed,” she added, noting that someone at the police station told her that since the murder occurred such a long time ago, it would be difficult to get information on it now.
“I want to know who killed him and I want the person to be punished for what they did,” the grieving widow said.
