Higher punishment in appeal for robber tourists

On April 11th  2019, the Court of Appeal pronounced 14 years in prison against suspect J.R.V. (25). The suspect was initially sentenced to twelve years for robberies against tourists. The public prosecutor demanded ten years in prison against the suspect.

In a relatively short period of time, the suspect and the co-suspects were guilty of five violent robberies, in which mainly tourists were victims. During the majority of these robberies, the victims were cruelly assaulted with a baseball bat, firearms and / or cap knives. The suspect is also guilty of an attempted theft with violence. He has hacked the victim several times with a knife and caused injury.

This series of exceptionally serious facts has caused a great deal of social turmoil in Curaçao. In particular, the Court finds it very unfortunate that the violence was directed against tourists, which has put Curaçao in a negative light as a holiday island. Through his actions, the suspect has also strengthened the feelings of fear and insecurity that are already present in society.

The Court also ruled that the suspect had previously been convicted of similar penalties and thus demonstrated that he had not learned the lessons from his earlier mistakes.