PHILIPSBURG--Emmanuel York (49), who was described as a “digital child molester” during his trial at the Court of First Instance in January 2015, on Thursday appealed his five-year sentence for the sexual abuse of two minor boys.

 

The former manager at L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium and Community Development Officer maintained his innocence and his lawyer Brenda Brooks pleaded for his full acquittal. The Court of First Instance had held the former President of the St. Maarten National Basketball Association SXMNBA responsible for raping a 15-year-old boy on April 2, 2014.

He had groomed the child on the Internet, using Facebook and persuaded him to meet up for a one-to-one coaching session.

 

The second case allegedly involved a series of rapes of a 17-year-old boy between August 2013 and February 2014, in which the child was groomed in a similar manner.

 

According to the Judge at the Court of First Instance the defendant had used the same modus operandi to lure his victims in both cases. He had met them via the Internet and had promised them a spot on basketball trips to the United States as part of an exchange programme.

 

He also would have offered the second victim his assistance in obtaining a Dutch passport and a job with the Coast Guard, using forged documents.

 

In exchange, the boys were subjected to tests and private one-to-one training sessions, during which they had to run and do other exercises. These late-afternoon sessions were not held at a sports facility, but in “dark and remote” areas such as Mt. Bishop Hill and the hills behind the Vineyard Building, where they allegedly were touched, forced into sexual acts and raped.

 

York denied he had ever touched the boys or had any sexual contact with them.

However, the Court of First Instance found it proven that the victims had been threatened with publication of nude pictures if they refused to have sexual contact.

 

The case started rolling when the mother of one of the victims filed a report with the police on April 4, 2014. Despite the fact that a medical report contained indications of violence of a sexual nature, York informed the Court of Appeals that “nothing sexual” had happened between him and the boy. “I deny all charges…It is not conclusive if it was sexual. I did not do that,” York said.

 

The victim reportedly had told a 14-year-old friend, who said he was also approached by York, that he should not go and see him. “He is a paedophile and I was almost raped,” the victim would have said.

 

Acting Solicitor-General Anton van der Schans considered all charges proven, but called for an acquittal where it concerned the exertion of violence in the second case. He called upon the Court to uphold the five-year sentence.

Attorney Brooks said her client’s conviction was based on “rumours, gossip, and suggestions,” and not on eye-witness statements and undisputed evidence. The lawyer said no hard evidence had been provided. Her client’s DNA had not been found and not one single photo of the victims had been found on York’s laptops and USB-sticks. “It’s all about stories,” said Brooks.

 

The Court of Appeals will give its decision March 23.

 

The Daily Herald