PHILIPSBURG:--- The lawyer that was appointed by the judge of instruction to represent blogger Judith Roumou has dropped the client leaving Roumou without a legal representation Monday morning.
Press Prosecutor Karola Van Nie told SMN News on Monday in an invited comment that Roumou no longer has a lawyer to represent her and therefore the judge had no choice but to postpone the case that was to be heard on Monday morning where Roumou wants the judge to remove one of the conditions of her release from pretrial detention. Van Nie said Roumou is a suspect in a criminal investigation and she is entitled to legal representation therefore the judge had to postpone the case until he appoint a new lawyer to represent Roumou. Van Nie said for now no new date has been set for the hearing where Roumou wants to the judge to remove from the lists of conditions that she must cooperate to undergo a psychiatric and physiological evaluation.
Judith Roumou was arrested on June 30th at her St. Peters home after a number of persons filed criminal charges against her, she is suspected of harassment (stalking) slander, defamation, extortion and other crimes, she was released on July 6th 2015 on special conditions such as the suspect is not allowed to contact the people that pressed charges against her and she must visit the probation service. Also she needs to cooperate in the creation of a psychological and/or psychiatric report and she cannot commit new crimes. The judge followed this advice.
However, the first lawyer that was appointed first requested that all the persons including the detectives, and prosecutor be heard by the judge of instruction. The judge denied part of the lawyer’s request only allowing the detective to be heard. That detective is now back in the Netherlands and he may have to travel back to St. Maarten when the time comes for him to be heard. Most recently, the said lawyer asked the court to remove the last condition on which Roumou was released from pre-trial detention, however, Roumou did not respect the orders of the court which clearly states that she must not commit new crimes. Shortly after Roumou was released she began breaking the conditions of her release leading to new complaints filed against her.