Philipsburg:--- Five families consisting of 25 people, sixteen of which are children were evicted by a court marshal and scores of police officers that were dressed in riot gear on Saturday leaving the families including two babies in the hot sun. The Brooks family in an interview with SMN News Sunday evening said that the court marshal whose name they provided took them to court with documents they believe are fraudulent. "The marshal's mother got a house from our mother because she cared for the old lady for a period of time. But there are four properties on the government lease land they have been occupying for the past 36 years." Three women and a man all of whom are the step children of Sebastien Mina (Frenchie) said that the last time their step father was on St. Maarten is in the year 2010. They said their stepfather showed them a document saying that his sister told him that he is supposed to meet with the marshal who would take him to the doctor. The women said that their stepfather told them that the marshal took Euros 600 from him when she met him. The women said when they read the document their step father showed them he assured them that he did not sign any document and that he had no intention of putting his family on the street.
The Brooks family said that their step father who is illiterate told them he did not sign any document to throw out his step children because he raised them from the time they were babies. They said the man returned to Guadeloupe after his wife died. They said the marshal took them to court and the notary document that was presented in court was signed on the November 3rd, 2011, a time they believe their stepfather was in Guadeloupe. They showed SMN News a document they obtained from Air Antilles which stated when Mina traveled from Pointe Pitre to St. Martin and when he returned to Guadeloupe. The Brooks family said that the sister of their stepfather is in some sort of deal with the marshal along with a male lawyer on the Dutch side because ever since the problem started they are not able to find their step father. The Brooks said that one of their sisters went to Guadeloupe in search of her step father and she did not find him. "We know his sister is in this with the marshal and she is the one keeping Sebastien away from us. Right now we don't know if our stepfather is dead or alive. We heard he was sent to Marie Gallante but we have no proof of that and we just don't know where to find him."
Attorney at law Shaira Bommel confirmed to SMN News that she represented the family in court last year and the family could not provide any proof or find their step father to prove what they are saying. Attorney Bommel said she believed her clients and that is why she took their case. Attorney Bommel further explained that there was not much she could do for the Brooks family because they had no documents to show they inherited the properties even though they are the ones that were paying the taxes and was occupying the homes in Fort Willem. "The only thing that would have helped my clients is a letter from their stepfather or if he had showed up on the day of the hearing. But since my clients did not have any of that the marshal won the case and the eviction she carried out on Saturday was fully legal."
The Brooks family said that the police officers who went to the scene were told that they have arms and ammunition and some of them left the scene when they saw that they were called to evict a number of children on a Saturday when no one could go their aid. "One of the police officers took his own money and bought a tarpaulin to cover our household items when he saw rain was coming. Another officer jumped his jeep and left because he could not bear what was going on. One of the officers told us that the marshal told them that there are arms and ammunition in the house and that is why they showed up in riot gear but when the officers did not find anything they took off their masks and some of them left the scene in rage."
The Brooks family said at some point they called on the Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin for assistance and the Deputy Prime Minister went and saw the commotion. They said that Marlin then called on the Minister of Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever who managed to secure two nights for them at the Bute Hotel while Marlin is working on getting the families social homes in Belvedere. The Brooks family said they have to meet with the Minister of Health, Social and Labor Affairs Cornelius de Weever at 8am on Monday and the Minister asked them to take all the documents they have so that the department of legal affairs could look into their case and to see if they could challenge what took place. They said after the meeting with the Minister of Social Affairs they have to go over to the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation at 2pm to see if they will get emergency homes.