PHILIPSBURG:--- On March 15th, 2018, in accordance with the Public Prosecutor, the Court of First Instance sentenced suspect C.A.J. (1987), to 10 years in prison for three armed robberies committed in Philipsburg in July 2017.
The Court of First Instance found C.A.J. guilty of robbing Oops clothing store (July 12th, 2017), Alberto's Fashion (July 15th, 2017) and Divinitii Jewelers (July 17th, 2017).
During the robbery at Oops, the suspect had held a knife to the throat of the cashier, forcing the handover of money and clothing. In the robbery of Alberto's Fashion and Divinitii Jewelers, personnel was forced to hand over money and jewelry, while being threatened with a firearm.
With the intervention of Korps Politie Sint Maarten (KPSM), C.A.J. was arrested while fleeing from the robbery of Divinitii Jewelers. Camera images and his distinctive tattoos easily linked him to the previous two robberies.
The Court of First Instance also ruled that in both robberies of Alberto's Fashion and Divinitii Jewelers, C.A.J. had committed an act of unlawful restraint.
At the time of these robberies, C.A.J. had just been released on June 5th, 2017, after serving a 14-year and 8-month prison sentence for similar offenses. In issuing the new sentence, the Court of First Instance also agreed with the Public Prosecutor that C.A.J. apparently did not learn from his previous conviction.
Prosecutor's Office Press Release
