St. Maarten News: A feisty 16-year-old girl with an attitude and – apparently – a bright future ahead of her – stood trial in the Court in First Instance yesterday morning for threatening a man with a knife. She spent 7 days behind bars, before she was let go with an ankle bracelet. She has been wearing the bracelet for the past three months.
“That has been enough,” prosecutor Karola van Nie said. She demanded a conditional punishment of 100 hours of community service.
Attorney Geert Hatzmann said that the prosecutor’s office and the police had been mild towards his client. Yet, he asked the court to mitigate the conditional community service.
Judge Winfield gave a little bit and put the punishment at 80 hours.
The high-energy and very talkative girl was not impressed: “Community service is not a punishment for me. I’m doing that already.” she said before she became aware that the sentence is conditional and will only be executed if she commits other crimes during probation.
Likewise, the girl, who is a member of the local Youth Brigade, told the court that the ankle bracelet was not punishment to her either, because she always is back home by 7 p.m. in the evenings.
The girl is doing well in school and intends to pursue a career in the Coast Guard.
Feisty teenager gets conditional community service for threat
