PHILIPSBURG--Another chilling reminder of the lack of a closed mental health facility was highlighted yesterday as the court heard the case of A.S.P. (37), born in Curaçao, who stood accused of the attempted murder of nine-year-old girl S.B.

 

Five years' imprisonment of which two years are suspended with a three-year probation period and a condition to be treated as an inpatient by the Mental Health Foundation for a minimum of 12 months was the demand of Prosecutor Tineke Kamps for P., who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, and as such, was deemed to suffer from diminished responsibility at the time of the offence.

 

Relatives of the young girl sat in court as the judge heard the case, in which it was described how S.B. had been walking to school with her older sister when P. suddenly attacked the nine-year-old, punched her hard in the face, kicked her, placed a rope around her neck, dragged her across the ground and finally threw her over a fence into his garden.

 

The attack was only stopped because of community commotion. B.'s sister, unable to stop the attack, had run for her mother, who managed to retrieve her young daughter from the garden. As a result of the attack, the nine-year-old suffered a cut to the eyelid, partial loss of vision in her left eye, a scar to the face, a cut on her Achilles tendon and bruises to her knees and elbows.

 

The accused, who appeared confused and emotionally uninvolved, came out with a number of statements showing the extent of his mental state.

For starters, he said that he believed the young girl to be in her 20s. He stated that he had hit her because she had stolen his shoes a few months earlier. He also alleged that the girl had choked him at 4:00am, and that she had been doing so for the last six years. Further on in the proceedings, he alleged the girl had abused him for 17 years.

 

He did however identify the girl from a photograph shown to him, and the judge as well as his own lawyer asked him whether he truly believed the girl in the photograph was in her 20s. His victim, in her statement, said that she had never even spoken to P.

 

The accused admitted hitting the girl, and also stated he had put a rope around her neck, which, according to him, was part of a game. He vehemently denied kicking her.

 

Psychiatric reports of the accused confirmed an earlier diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, possibly influenced by daily use of marijuana since P. was a teenager. P. was described as having delusions of grandeur, and hallucinatory ideas. For instance, P. had kept insisting he should be released from prison as he was a pilot and needed to fly his plane to Mexico. He also stated he owned Curaçao and St. Maarten, including the court.

 

The accused's father, in a statement, had expressed his concerns about his son, who had previously been in a psychiatric hospital in Curaçao, had no further education and was unable to look after himself. P. has never had a job and does not take his medication.

 

Meanwhile, his young victim still undergoes regular hospital visits for pain in her shoulder, has to keep taking eye drops and, although it is hoped her vision will still fully recover, this is not yet sure. She also has to learn to live with a permanent scar and has recurring nightmares and other psychological problems. To date, she has not yet had psychological treatment. A medical statement said that it was entirely possible that the girl could have died at the hands of her attacker.

 

The father of the girl presented to the court that he wanted to claim compensation for hospital bills, demanding a further NAf. 50,000 for "future expenses and traumatisation." He failed to mention the fact that a fundraiser was ongoing, as a result of which part of the hospital bills were already paid.

 

He said that "Maurice Lake and his assistant gave US $180," and other than that, the family had not received financial support.

 

The court brought up the fact that some of the hospital bills had already been paid, and that the young girl had not had insurance at the time of the incident due to the fact that her parents had not managed to secure the necessary paperwork from the girl's birth country.

 

The prosecutor, in her final statement, highlighted once again the urgent need for a secure mental health facility. "It became clear that Country St. Maarten does not – or is not able to – take care of its mentally ill nationals. A civilised country should take care of mentally ill nationals." She pointed out that every country has mentally disturbed people, and it is the responsibility of the country to take care of those people and prevent them becoming a danger to themselves and others.

 

Kamps said that although the suspect is mentally disturbed, he is to blame for what has happened. In her demand, she took into consideration the diminished responsibility of the accused, the high chance of repeat offences, the necessity for treatment and the fact that the accused does not take his medication.

 

With regard to compensation, she asked for the compensation to be equal to the currently outstanding medical bill of NAf. 3,300, as well as a separate amount of NAf. 2,000 for the victim. She asked for the other request, for NAf. 50,000 to be turned down.

 

Geert Hatzman, the lawyer of the accused, compared his client to an animal who behaved like an animal would with his prey, and who, with the right treatment, may have a chance of being human once again. He used the word "dangerous zombie," and said that he believed his client should be regarded as having severe diminished responsibility, and should not be imprisoned, but treated.

 

"I never hear the politicians about mental health," said Hatzman. "They are not interested. But anyone could get psychiatric problems; there are severely mentally ill people everywhere who could just attack your child."

Hatzman believed that there was insufficient evidence of attempted manslaughter, and that the case was one of attempted serious assault, as opposed to an actual serious assault. He also asked for the court to turn down the damages claim made by the father, as it was at this point unknown how high expenses would be.

 

The court will give its judgement on September 17.

 

(The Daily Herald)