PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice will handle the appeal hearings in the so-called Casablanca case after the summer – in August or September – it appeared from a pro forma hearing on Thursday afternoon.
Three defendants were summoned to court for the pro forma hearing: Casablanca manager McQuincy Reiph, his sister Jessica and the company, Casablanca NV. The attorney for the company, Richie Kock, did not appear, because he had not received the summons. Two other defendants, David Eustace and Calma Priest will appear in court at a later date.
Attorney Sjamira Roseburg asked the court to hear five women as witnesses; they are part of a group of seventeen prostitutes who made statements against Casablanca and its managers in the course of the investigation.
The court denied the request, because one of the women is currently living in Venezuela; that makes it impossible to question her, the court said. The four others are from the Dominican Republic, but they cannot be traced.
“However, if new information becomes available, you can always repeat this request,” the presiding judge told Roseburg.
In April 2017, the court in first Instance sentenced McQuincy reiph, the managing director of the brothel, to 730 days of imprisonment, with 385 days conditional, 2 years of probation and a fine of $15,000. Reiph already served the unconditional part of the sentence in pretrial detention.
The court imposed the same sentence on his sister Jessica.
The prosecution demanded in March 2017 8 years of imprisonment against McQuincy Reiph and 7 years against his sister as well as a 200,000 guilders fine against each.
David Eustace was sentenced to 342 days in prison – equal to the time he already spent in pretrial detention; the prosecution’s demand against him was 4 years of imprisonment.
Their mother Calma Josephine Priest, who owns the Casablanca building, was sentenced to 44 days of imprisonment, equal to the time she spent in pretrial detention. The prosecution’s demand in this case was 5 years of imprisonment. The court acquitted the 68-year old of robbing prostitutes at Casablanca of their freedom, but sentenced her for benefiting from their exploitation by her co-defendants.
The company Casablanca N.V. faced a 30,000 guilders fine from the prosecution, but the court sentenced the entity to a fine of 15,000 guilders.
The court found McQuincy and Jessica Reiph guilty of trafficking in women and human trafficking and of firearm possession. Furthermore, the siblings are guilty of fiscal fraud by not submitting timely returns for turnover tax and profit tax.
The court acquitted these two main defendants of several charges. There is no evidence that they robbed the prostitutes who worked in Casablanca of their freedom, the court ruled. Furthermore, they were acquitted of intentionally under-reporting turnover tax, and of forgery.
The defendants as and the public prosecutor’s office have both appealed the sentenced.
