PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Thursday, jailed two men to prison for six years each for involvement in the attempted armed robbery at Atlantis Casino on November 16, 2014. A third suspect was acquitted for lack of evidence.
The Prosecutor’s Office had called for 10 years against Bob A.E. Wilkins (22) and eight years against suspects Chris A. Henry (21) and C.M.B. (22), during the June 24 hearing of this case.
In the midday robbery, a security guard was shot at the casino in Cupecoy when he was confronted by three armed robbers. Three suspects, all dressed like women, had entered the casino and had threatened a cashier with a gun with the intention to rob the establishment.
The security guard was alerted to the ongoing situation and confronted the suspects, at which time he was shot in his legs. He was taken to St. Maarten Medical Center for treatment.
Prosecutor Gonda van der Wulp held the three suspects responsible for the armed robbery. They were charged with theft with violence, with possession of firearms and ammunition, and with laundering the amount of US $28,775, which was taken by force from the casino’s so-called cage supervisor.
The culprits escaped in a blue Kia Picanto, which was stolen on the nights of November 15 and 16. The car was later found by the French authorities in Sandy Ground. Women’s clothes, sandals and wigs were found in a dumpster near the car. Traces of suspects’ DNA were found in and on these items. The Prosecutor’s Office also presented video-surveillance camera images as evidence of the suspects’ involvement.
The Court found it proven that Wilkins and Henry had both taken part in the armed robbery. Defence pleadings, which contested the legality of the obtained DNA samples were dismissed.
Henry, however, was acquitted of money-laundering for lack of evidence, as this charge was only based on the defendant’s statement that he had given $800 to his grandmother.
Following established jurisprudence by the High Court in The Hague, suspect C.M.B. was acquitted of all charges as the judge found insufficient proof of “close and deliberate” cooperation with the other suspects in planning or committing a crime.
From the case file it emerged that C.M.B. was arrested in a car together with Henry on November 19, 2014. He carried $6,639 and 600 euros with him, and both amounts were confiscated.
The mobile telephone of Atlantis Casino employee C.M.B. contained a picture of co-suspect K.D. (18), dressed in women’s clothing. After the robbery, C.M.B. had telephone contacts with co-defendants K.D. and Henry.
C.M.B. had also provided unreliable statements about his contacts with co-defendants, but the judge, nevertheless, did not find sufficient legal and convincing evidence that he had played a “whether or not significant” role in the robbery.
As a result, he was acquitted of the crime. The confiscated amounts in dollars and euro currencies will be returned, as it could not be ascertained that these were obtained through crime. The case against suspect K.D. will be heard September 2.
