Basse Terre:--- The presiding judges of the criminal court of Basse Terre have condemned Attorney at Law Aude Richards as they rejected his defense in totality. On April 23rd, 2012, Richards was taken before the criminal courts for committing fraud when he used the names of three of the former board members of the Office du Tourisme to file a case against the Office du Tourisme. The three women, Josianne Artsen-Fleming, Noreen Brooks, and Maud Gibbs were condemned in February 2006.The women from the very inception said and maintained that they were victims of Maitre Richards because they never gave him any authorization to file a case against the tourist office because they were members of the board. They however, admitted that they tried to support the former director of the Tourist Office who was fired for plagiarism. The former director of the Office du Tourism was Alex Richards, the brother of Maitre Aude Richards.
According to the victims Maude Gibbs, Josianne Fleming, and Noreen Brooks they were informed of the court's decision on Friday when Mrs. Maude Gibbs called the court recorder for the decision. Gibbs said the court rejected Richards' defense and he was convicted as charged. The court further ruled that Maitre Richards is prohibited to practice law for a period of one year. In addition, the court awarded the Office de Tourisme with a symbolic €1 for moral prejudice, and €10,000 under article 475-1 of the criminal code. The main victims and civil parties to the case Josianne Fleming-Artsen, Maud Gibbs, and Noreen Brooks each received €5000 Euros for moral damages, €2000 for material damages, and €4500 under article 471-1 of the criminal code. In an interview with SMN News, Maud Gibbs said that the court recorder also informed her that Maitre Richards already filed an appeal against the decision that was rendered on July 31st, 2012.
Gibbs further stated that the decision of the court rendered on July 31st gave her a sense of relief since they got justice despite lies that were told to the court by Maitre Richards and his pool of lawyers. Maude Gibbs who is now a Territorial Councilor said winning the case is not about the monies the court awarded them but they are now able to clear their names here on St. Martin. "We are now able to clear our names because even after the last court date Maitre Richards wrote an article to one of the daily newspapers and called us liars. What bothers me most is that on April 23rd when the hearing was taking place Maitre Richards and his defense team tried to place all the blame on one of their colleagues who is now deceased. My emotions raised when I saw how these lawyers especially Maitre Richards considered their late colleague Jean Marc Foy. He used that man for his wrong doing and then painted him black now that he is not here to defend himself." Territorial Councilor Maud Gibbs said she hopes that the President of the Collectivity Alain Richardson has taken note of the decision that was rendered by the judge on July 31st 2012. Gibbs said she will also inform President of the COM of the decision because Maitre Aude Richards is one of the lawyers that represents the Collectivity of St. Martin in legal matters. Also reacting to the decision of the court was Josianne Fleming-Artsen who said she never doubted the justice system because she knew that the truth will always prevail. "From the beginning I was very surprised that we were caught in this type of confusion. I can tell you that I never had any discussion with Maitre Aude Richards. I am still wondering why he picked the three of us because Gibbs, Brooks, and I were specifically selected by him. I also felt that Maitre Richards tried to destroy us as women. I was amazed at how this gentleman can lie. In the court he lied over and over and then came the article he wrote after the case was tried. In the end, I left the entire matter to God because for me this was impossible and it could not have happened the way it did. When I saw his legal team that consisted of mostly of bâtonniers I realized that Maitre Richards would go to any length with his lies. Can you imagine this is a St. Martiner and we never had intentions of taking him to court or to harm him. All we wanted was for him to apologize and take the financial responsibilities. But Maitre Richards did not want to stop, he continued with his lies. He could have called us and apologized and even say he made a mistake and he misjudged us. In my opinion, it appears to me that this is in his family and I have lost respect for them. This man did this kind of thing to several persons on this island but we are the only ones that stood up to him despite the financial expenses. Fleming said the community of St. Martin did not give them the benefit of the doubt because they got no support from the community without knowing that this man is a big liar. "As the director of the University of St. Martin and former first lady, the episode of Aude Richards destroyed my image in society. People thought we were guilty and it was good for us without even knowing what had happened."
The third victim of the Aude Richards scandal who was highly affected and became very emotional in the court on April 23rd also told SMN News via a telephone interview how she felt when she got the decision of the court. Noreen Brooks said when she got the news she felt redeemed. "As I told you from the very inception, this was never about the money, all I wanted from Aude Richards is for him to admit what he had done and to take the responsibility by paying the fine and other legal fees and to apologize to us. I found out about this case when I read in the newspapers that I was convicted for something I knew nothing about, we had no reason to take the Tourist Office to court because I was a member of the administrative board." During the trial on April 23rd, Noreen Brooks cried throughout the proceedings because she could not believe that someone who is an officer of the court could have lied so much. "I got more emotionally upset when Maitre Richards said he was the lawyer that represented my father when he did not even know my father's name. I could not believe that a grown man could stoop that low. We were not fighting Aude Richards alone, we had to also deal with all the sitting bâtonniers who were like sharks against us."The lawyer that represented Noreen Brooks, Josianne Fleming, and Maude Gibbs was Attorney at Law Dina Rioual while the Office du Tourisme was represented by Maitre Stephen Montravers.
It should be noted that when the internal investigation was conducted by the judge and they rendered their verdict in November 2010 which stated that there was sufficient evidence to hold Maitre Richards culpable for professional misconduct namely fraud. SMN News broke that story after receiving a copy of the decision from one of the civil parties. Maitre Aude Richards did not use his "right to respond", instead he took the main reporter of SMN News to criminal courts and a judgment was rendered in favor of the SMN News reporter. Coincidentally on August 3rd, 2012, SMN News received court documents stating that Maitre Richards had filed an appeal against the decision rendered by the court on June 24th, 2011 and the hearing is now scheduled for September 18th 2012.