Common Court installs three new judges for criminal cases

GREAT BAY – The Common Court of Justice installed three judges for handling criminal cases in St. Maarten last Friday – Tjada van der Spoel, Dirk Gruijters and John Schols. Gruijters has already handled cases at the courthouse, among them the famous replay of the Masbangu-case.

Van der Spoel, formerly lead counsel for suspects in the Rwanda tribunal and the Yugoslavia tribunal and defense counsel for suspects at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, works as Judge of Instruction and he handles criminal cases on appeal.

John Schols is as Judge of Instruction involved in large-scale investigations that have to do with organized and undermining criminality like corruption, the links between the underworld and the legitimate society and large-scale money laundering. Schols is specialized in cybercrime.

Dirk Gruijters, described in a speech by Evert Jan van der Poel, the President of the Common Court, as ‘the Benjamin’ among the judges who worked previously at Interpol, in the private sector and as an attorney.

Van der Poel called in his speech for research into the access citizens have to justice. “My message is to research the obstructions and to decrease them step by step as good as possible.”

There is no need for consultants to do this, Van der Poel said. He suggested that stakeholders like the Ombudsman could help charting possible problems and working on solutions.

Chief Prosecutor Ton Maan described the “terrible week” that began on August 31 with the shooting of Omar Jones in his cell at the Pointe Blanche prison. Within seven days, law enforcement was confronted with incidents that involved five firearms, one knife, three dead due to violence and one fatal traffic accident.

Maan said that law enforcement in St. Maarten has “insufficiently developed to be able to have an adequate answer to these terrifying and increased social threats. “It falls short in many aspects,” Maan said. He referred to the resources that are made available to the police, the prosecutor’s office, the Common Court of Justice, the prison and the legal profession. “All these players in law enforcement are inadequately equipped for the heavy work that is expected from them.”

Maan announced that St. Maarten will start with an Asset Recovery Team, designed to take illicit profits away from criminals. The ministers of justice and finance have signed the order for this venture.

The Asset Recovery Team will consist of officers from the police, Customs, Coast Guard, tax inspectorate, Royal Marechaussee and the receiver.

Another project is Jasap – Justice as soon as possible. “In the past it happened too often that cases remained shelved without a good reason. That should not happen anymore,” Maan said. “We’ll have to make difficult choices and there is insufficient capacity to deal with all criminality. But once choices have been made the investigation must be handled as soon as possible.”