Three police officers summoned to court over fatal St. Peters shooting
Three police officers involved in the 13 February fatal shooting in St. Peters are due in court on Friday 13 November, the Public Prosecution Service says.
Three police officers are due in court on Friday 13 November over the fatal police shooting in St. Peters on 13 February, the Public Prosecution Service said on 17 September.
The officers have been summoned to appear before the Court of First Instance in Sint Maarten. The man who died is identified by the service only as R.B. The service has not named the offence the officers are summoned for.
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The decision to bring the three officers before the court was taken after a review of the investigation, the service said. It said the court will decide the case on the investigation and the evidence put before it during the proceedings.
The investigation was carried out by the Landsrecherche Sint Maarten, the national detectives, under the direction of the Prosecutor's Office Curaçao. According to the service, it looked at the circumstances of the shooting and at the officers' use of force. The service said the Curaçao office was given the case to keep the assessment independent and objective.
Now that the case is going before the court, the Prosecutor's Office will not comment further on its substance for now, the service said.
The service said on 20 May that the finalisation of the investigation had been transferred to the Prosecutor's Office in Curaçao. It said then that under Sint Maarten law, every incident in which a police firearm is discharged is automatically investigated by the Landsrecherche. The purpose of the investigation, it said, was to determine whether the use of force was lawful.
On Monday 22 June, representatives of the Prosecutor's Office Curaçao and investigators on the case visited the scene in St. Peters, the service said the following day. It said the visit was to understand the circumstances better and to judge whether further steps, including a possible forensic reconstruction, could help the investigation.