WILLEMSTAD - The Joint Court of Justice sentenced a 40-year-old man from Curaçao to a 30-year prison sentence for a shooting on May 23, 2018 at the Kaya Afghanis. He has been convicted of double manslaughter. The shooting in and near a barbershop resulted in two fatalities, a 19-year-old and a 23-year-old man. The 26-year-old barber was critically injured. Unlike the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal does not declare a premeditated double murder proven, but double manslaughter. The Court does not consider it proven that the suspect had the plan in advance to shoot at the two persons present in the barbershop in addition to the barber.
Nor, according to the judge, can it be established that the suspect knew that they were there. The decision to shoot them too took place in a very short period of time that does not prove premeditated murder. Shooting at the barbershop does result in an attempted murder. The suspect had and took ample time that evening to think about what he would do if he were not paid by the barber for a firearm delivered, the judges said.
The suspect is guilty of very serious acts, according to the Court. He went at the victims with a shotgun and aimed at all three of them. All victims were shot full in the chest and one was also shot in the head. The man who survived the attack sustained life-threatening injuries. After lengthy medical treatment in Colombia where he has been on the brink of death on several occasions, he continues to experience severe physical limitations that he will have to bear throughout his life. The indifference with which the suspect proceeded to this shooting can be called as reprehensible as it is shocking, according to the court.
Moreover, the actions of the suspect seriously shocked the community. Not only because there are three victims, but also because the suspect was a professional shotgun instructor and was employed by a company that protects people and their property, the three judges said. The penalty is equal to the demand of the Public Prosecution Service. The suspect and the Public Prosecution Service have 14 days to file an appeal with the Supreme Court in the Netherlands.