PHILIPSBURG--The Judge in the Court of First Instance sentenced Stedson M. Jacobus (24) in March to ten years for shooting a man in his chest during an armed robbery at a bus stop on Back Street on August 16, 2015.

 

The Court, based on the evidence presented, found it legally and convincingly proven that the defendant had committed attempted manslaughter. He also was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm.

 

Jacobus appealed his case and was present in Court on Thursday. Attorney-at-law S. Bommel requested that three additional witnesses be heard by the investigating judge. The Appeals Court judges postponed the case until October 5 at 1:30pm.

 

The victim had provided an elaborate statement to the Police Force’s Serious Crime Team about what had transpired in the evening hours of Sunday, August 16, while he was waiting at the bus stop across from the gate to Old Street to catch a bus to go home.

 

“All of a sudden, I saw a man standing in front of me with a gun in his hand. … The man told me: ‘Give me your money.’ I asked the man: ‘What money?’ I heard the man telling me: ‘Give me your money. This is not a joke.’ Right after he told me that, he cranked the gun and shot me in my chest,” the victim told the police two days later.

 

“He held the gun to my neck demanding the money. I put my hand in my pockets to show him that I didn’t have any money. I pulled away my neck to prevent him from shooting me in my neck and even though I did so, he still shot me in my neck. … I began to run away from him and he ran behind me firing shots at me. I ran up to the church. When I looked around I saw that he was still running behind me. I ran into the Zoutsteeg and when I looked around again I saw that he was no longer following me.”

 

He ran straight into the nearby police station, telling the officer on duty that a man had tried to rob and shoot him. He also provided the officer with a description of his assailant.

 

In his report, the officer on duty mentioned that a bleeding man had come running into the station at approximately 8:25pm. He fell down at the reception door and crawled into the corner under the counter, the officer stated.

 

He called an ambulance which took the victim, who was in “critical condition,” to the hospital.

 

Two security officers, working at Holland House Beach Hotel and Horizon View Beach-front Hotel, were presented as witnesses who had seen the defendant around the time of the shooting with a pistol in his hand. The defendant also was identified on video-surveillance images taken by a camera at a Front Street jeweller.

 

The victim identified Jacobus from photographs as the man who had attacked him. “He was very angry and aggressive,” the victim said, adding that he had gotten a good look at the man after he had pulled the “hoody” off his head.

 

The suspect in question denied he had fired any shots or had even been in the vicinity of the shooting incident. He claimed he had been with his girlfriend and his mother from the early afternoon into the evening. His girlfriend and mother were present in court on Thursday.

 

Jacobus was released from prison in June 2015 after sitting out a sentence for another armed robbery. He was convicted of violent crimes in 2011.

 

The Daily Herald