French Quarter:--- A family from French Quarter found a 12 year old boy on Le Galion Beach around 10pm Tuesday night with marks of violence and what appeared to be a skin disease. According to the family, they were in the bushes on Le Galion Beach looking for crabs when they found the child who was crying, his clothes were wet and he had marks of violence about his face. The family told SMN News that the child told them he lives on the Dutch side of the island and is also attending school on the Dutch side. "The boy told us his name is Anthony, he also told us that his mother beat him very badly and she wanted to kill him. He was not wearing any shoes or slippers when we found him and he was bleeding from his face. The child could not say how he got on the beach. At one point, he said he ran away when his mother began beating him and afterwards he said he did not know how he got to the beach. It took us a long time to get the child to speak to us, he was not responding at first but we insisted that he tell us what he was doing on the beach at that hour of the night alone."
The family said they called the Gendarmes who questioned the child in their presence and then the four gendarmes took him to the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital for treatment. Up to Thursday young Anthony was still a patient at the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital.
SMN News reporter went to the hospital to see the child and to gather pertinent information on the parents of the child but the social workers at the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital said that they are not allowed to divulge any information on minors who are in their care. They did admit that the child was a patient at the hospital and they were doing their best to care for him.
The social workers said they are doing the best they could to provide treatment and care for the young boy while they already contacted the Court of Guardianship on the Dutch side for assistance. The Social workers referred SMN News to the Gendarmes for more information since they were unable to allow anyone close to the boy or to give out information on his condition.
Captain of the Gendarmerie, Sylvain Jouault confirmed on Thursday morning that a child was found alone on the beach Tuesday night around 10pm. Jouault said the child was taken to the hospital and the Gendarmes opened an investigation to determine why the minor boy was on the beach alone that night and to also determine who ill-treated him. Jouault said that they need to know if the child ran away from home because that is very prevalent on St. Maarten. When SMN News asked Captain Jouault if they contacted the Dutch authorities for assistance he said that they did not because the investigation they opened is not yet completed and when they contact the Dutch authorities they wanted to have a complete report on the case. Jouault further explained later (Thursday afternoon) that the mother of the child was found by the Dutch side Social Services and she was taken to the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital on Wednesday morning to explain who ill-treated her son and how he ended up on the beach alone on the French side. Jouault said that the child ran away from home and the family seems to have social problems. The Captain of the Gendarmerie further explained that the child is not a French citizen and he does not live on the French side, therefore the Prosecutor on the French side of the island has sent the files on the investigation they conducted to the Dutch side Prosecutor's Office who would decide whether or not they will prosecute the mother for her actions.
According to Chief Commissioner of Police Peter de Witte the Gendarmes did not ask them for any assistance on the case. De Witte said police on the Dutch side do not even know of the case. He also confirmed that no one filed a complaint with the police for a missing child.