Prison is full: no jail for car thieves

PHILIPSBURG – Because the Pointe Blanche prison is filled to capacity, two car thieves got off in the Court in First Instance on Wednesday morning with a punishment of 120 hours of community service and a conditional prison sentence of 2 months. The court imposed 2 years of probation.

The court found proof that Raheim Rashaam Salaam Nicolaas, 23, had stolen a car in Nettle Bay on the French side and that Jamal Mario Matilda, 27, had acted as his accomplice. The heft took place on January 9 of this year.

The thieves attracted the attention of the police when they were driving at high speed on Union Road, coming from the French side. Matilda, who drove the car, turned out not to have a driver’s license. He confessed to the theft.

While police found another stolen car right next to the car the two stole on the French side, the public prosecutor said that there is no evidence for charging the two defendants with fencing the second car.

The prosecutor demanded 3 months of imprisonment against Nicolaas and 2 months against Matilda.

Attorney Marlon Hart asked the court to acquit his client Nicolaas. “The evidence is deficient. There is a stolen car, a statement from a co-defendant and nothing else apart from officers who see them walking in the vicinity of a stolen car.”

Matilda, who appeared in court without an attorney, said in his defense: “I have nothing to say because I did not commit a crime.”

But the judge had a different opinion. He found Nicolaas guilty because he had been seen in the stolen car and later found just 150 meters away from the vehicle. He considered Matilda as an accomplice to the theft.