PHILIPSBURG--Checkmate Security Services said on Monday that it was aware that the man gunned down at The Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa on Sunday had been released from prison recently, but that the company was trying to give the man a second chance and help re-integrate him into society.

 

The Daily Herald understands that the man L. Webster has a criminal history and was detained in 2009 for an armed robbery in which a person was killed. He was just released from prison after serving time for that offence.

 

Checkmate official Chet Euton told The Daily Herald that he had been aware that the man had been released from prison recently. He also said the company always requested a Certificate of Good Conduct (police record) of potential employees. However, he said the company had wanted to give the man a second chance.

 

Checkmate has come under fire following the incident, for its hiring practices.

 

Euton said the man had presented himself to the company as a serious person who was willing to do an honest day’s work. He started working at Checkmate just a month and a half ago and was still on probation. He was training to be a patrol officer, checking up on locations to ensure that all goes well.

 

During his training he was working alongside a patrol officer. Euton said the man had always been straightforward, very neat, mannerly and so far had been performing up to par.

 

The man was not working at the time he and another man were shot. Euton said Checkmate has more than 480 staffers and the company could not be held liable for what its employees do in their off time.

 

“We are just trying to give people second chances and put them back into society. If we don’t hire them then who will?” Euton stressed. “We are trying to entitle the locals and trying to put more people at work and keep more people of the streets. We have 480-plus employees and a lot of them are second chance people.” He said those given a second chance were not placed at “sensitive locations.”

 

“He (the shooting victim) did not meet a perfect scenario, but we are trying to empower people and we are being blamed for every [thing –Ed.]”

 

Euton said the man did not yet possess a medical insurance card because he was still on probation. When the company learnt that he had been shot and hospitalised, a company official had offered that his credit card be used to transport the man off-island for further medical care, if this was necessary. The injured guard, said to be in his 30s, has since been flown off island for further medical care.

 

The Daily Herald