Court orders conditional release of Amy Velasquez-killer Ashton Lake
PHILIPSBURG — After more than 38 years of imprisonment, Ashton Lake will become a free man again on July 1. On May 9, 1984, the Court in First Instance sentenced Lake, who turned 59 on January 18, to life imprisonment for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Amy Velasquez in St. Maarten. The Velasquez-family vehemently opposed Lake’s release, More...
Appeals court confirms life sentence for serial killer Kathron Fortune
PHILIPSBURG — Serial killer Kathron Fortune won’t see the outside of a prison for a very long time (and most likely never), after the Common Court of Justice sentence the 45-year old on appeal to a life More...
How suspended MP Buncamper played the system and enriched himself
Publisher's note: StMaartenNews.com brings you a 3-parts series of articles on the Buncamper court case after careful analysis of the court verdict. In order to read the complete series, you will have to have a More...
Velasquez-family fiercely opposes early release for Amy’s killer Ashton Lake
PHILIPSBURG — August 27, 1983, was supposed to be just another hot and dry day in paradise. Temperatures peaked at 32 Celsius at noon and did not go lower than 28 during the evening. St. Maarten was a peaceful More...
Court orders former MP Frans Richardson and former Harbor-CEO Mark Mingo to pay
PHILIPSBURG — The Court in First Instance has ordered former parliamentarian Frans Richardson and the former director of the Harbor Group of Companies Mark Mingo in separate rulings to pay the country large More...
Collecting more taxes does not require reform; it requires enforcement
PHILIPSBURG — Tax reform. Tax compliance. Tax evasion. Tax fraud. These are all well-known terms in St. Maarten where fooling the tax inspectorate is seen by quite some citizens and companies as a national More...
MP Buncamper faces three years in prison
PHILIPSBURG — The public prosecutor demanded on Monday a 3-year prison sentence against Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper and a 12-month sentence against his wife, former Public Health Minister Maria More...
Is the Constitutional Court such a good idea?
By Hilbert Haar St. Maarten’s judicial system contains a unique institution: the Constitutional Court. No other country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands has such a court. Is that good or bad? First of all it More...
Corstens pleads for judicial reform in the Netherlands
PHILIPSBURG — The Dutch judicial system could do with a makeover that had the potential to spill over to St. Maarten. Geert Corstens, a former President of the Supreme Court in The Hague made the suggestion More...
MP Buncamper took 600,000 in bribes, prosecution charges
PHILIPSBURG -- The trial against parliamentarian Claudius Buncamper (United St. Maarten party, USp) is the result of an investigation into corruption that began in July 2018. The first court hearings were on September More...
