Justice minister outlines rules for fatal crashes, DUI evidence and deportation
Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling answered Parliament’s questions on crash investigations, testing, leaving a scene and immigration removal.
GREAT BAY — Justice Minister Nathalie Tackling answered Parliament’s outstanding questions on fatal traffic collisions, intoxication testing, drivers leaving crash scenes and immigration removal on 24 September, according to The People’s Tribune. The questions were raised by MP Egbert Doran during a 7 July urgent meeting that followed the 11 June Brouwers Road collision in which Ryan Gumbs died.
Tackling told Parliament that no single event automatically turns a traffic collision into a criminal case, The People’s Tribune reported. A death, serious injury, suspected impairment, dangerous driving, a driver leaving the scene, witness accounts, camera footage and technical findings can support an investigation. KPSM conducts factual investigations under the Public Prosecutor’s Office, while a court decides criminal liability.
Read the full story321 more words
Under Article 2:284 of the Criminal Code, a road user whose culpable conduct causes a fatal collision can face up to four years in prison, rising to six years for recklessness. Article 2:286 increases the applicable term by half if the offender was under the apparent influence of alcohol or mind-altering substances, Tackling said. She said investigators cannot compel blood collection, though suspects may voluntarily provide blood or urine samples.
Tackling said Article 9 of the Road Traffic Ordinance generally bars drivers from leaving a collision involving death, injury or property damage before their identity and that of the vehicle can be established. A driver may avoid prosecution for that specific offence by voluntarily reporting to an investigating officer within 24 hours, before arrest or questioning as a suspect, and providing the required identity information. The exception does not allow a driver to leave an injured person helpless.
MP Francisco Lacroes submitted a July amendment intended to tighten Article 9 in cases involving death or serious bodily injury, The People’s Tribune reported. Tackling also said pretrial detention is not available for every traffic offence and that the justice minister cannot overrule prosecutors or judicial authorities in an individual investigation.
On removal from Sint Maarten, Tackling said criminal and immigration proceedings are separate. She said Immigration does not need formal clearance from KPSM or the Public Prosecutor’s Office before carrying out a removal order, but prosecutors can ask that a person remain available for a reasonable period for an investigation. In the Gumbs case, she said the person had been released from criminal custody and transferred to Immigration before she contacted the Prosecutor’s Office.
Tackling said removal does not end possible criminal liability, as an investigation and prosecution can continue where legally justified. She was unable to provide three-year figures for people removed while connected to active criminal investigations because criminal and immigration records are held separately and cannot readily be combined.