The Daily Herald St. Maarten

July 17, 2009

PHILIPSBURG–A 40-year-old man who was caught red-handed by the police while shooting at iguanas from a Simpson Bay rooftop was sentenced by the Court in First Instance Tuesday to two months in jail.

Yovanny Roque Casado was sentenced to 20 months, 18 of which were suspended, and two years’ probation.

Police officers had found him with a 99mm Beretta firearm in hands with which he had shot at iguanas from a rooftop near Princess Juliana International Airport’s (PJIA) landing strip on April 14. Officers also found a rifle and four rounds of ammunition during a search of the man’s residence on Maracas Drive in Cay Bay.

Roque Casado did not deny he had the weapons in his possession that day, but told Judge Rick Smid the gun was not his. He said he had repaired the gun for somebody he did not know. “I don’t know his name, his address, nor his telephone number,” he said.

The Domincano told the judge he had developed a craving for iguana soup during his 19 years in the Netherlands Antilles, and had decided to hunt and shoot a “huge one” he had spotted near the beach adjacent to the airport landing strip.

Prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks asked for 605 days, 540 of which were to be suspended, and two years’ probation for the man who had already spent 74 days in pre-trial detention.

The Judge found Roque Casado guilty of violation of article 103, sub 1 of the Fire Weapon Ordinance, but did not consider it necessary to send him back to jail.