After a lengthy extradition proceeding in the United States, the two men convicted by the Court
of Appeal in March 2022 for the 2018 fatal shooting outside adult entertainment
club El Capitan in Sucker Garden were transported to Sint Maarten on Saturday
and are now detained in the Pointe Blanche Prison awaiting the ruling of the
Supreme Court (Hoge Raad).
The two convicts in the “Thorium” case have been arrested by United States law
enforcement in September 2022. The arrests were made on the request of the
Office of the Attorney General of Curacao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius,
and Saba. The two were arrested in Fulton County, Georgia.
The two men were released from prison in early 2020 after the Court of First
Instance ruled that they acted in self-defense when they shot and killed a man
and seriously injured another during an altercation at El Capitan, December 31, 2018.
The Prosecutor’s Office Sint Maarten OM SXM appealed the verdict of the
Court of First Instance.
The verdict of the Court of Appeal overturned the 2020 decision of the Court of
First Instance. D.O. was convicted to 20 years imprisonment and S.R. to 18
years. The arrest of the two men was ordered immediately by the Prosecutor’s
Office after the verdict was rendered in March 2022, however, neither was in
court at the time. They have been sought by justice authorities ever since. The
search was carried out first by the Police Force of Sint Maarten KPSM with
international authorities going on the alert for the fugitives. International legal
cooperation led to the arrest and extradition of the fugitives.
OM SXM will oversee the execution of the sentences of the two convicts.