Mos said Elston Fos was condemned in 1996 and on January 17th, 1999, he did not return from leave.
Mos said that the fugitive apparently told the court in the Netherlands that he got word that the deceased raped his daughter. "I saw he told the court this but I cannot read in the court decision if that was indeed the case." Mos said that Fos still has 436 days more to serve and this began on Friday when he was arrested on St. Maarten. He further explained that he is not in a position to say whether or not the suspect will forfeit his early release time since he escaped. "Those details I don't have but there is a possibility that the prosecutor will demand that."
When asked by SMN News when his name was placed on the Interpol list, Mos said he could not say because only recently St. Maarten became a full fledged member of Interpol and on Friday the fugitive was seen by Officer Randolph Bloieman and he was immediately arrested. "This shows that joining Interpol leads to results in serving justice in and outside St. Maarten," Mos added.
St. Maarten's Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos said a few years ago a special team was launched in the Netherlands to look for prisoners who escaped or are wanted by law enforcement in the Netherlands. This team was formed to execute the outstanding summons for wanted persons. The arrest of this fugitive is a result of the efforts of this special team.
However, SMN News learnt that Fos was on Interpol's list in Europe for several years and only three weeks ago St. Maarten received the information that a warrant was out for his arrest. SMN News also learnt that Fos was already receiving weekend visits to be with his family since he had already served most of his time, but instead of sitting out his complete sentence he escaped to St. Maarten and was living comfortably without being noticed.
A press release from the Acting Police Spokesman Inspector Quintin Rogers states that upon request of the Interpol in the Netherlands an international arrest warrant was issued for the arrest of an Antillean man who committed a crime in the year 1996 in Holland and had escaped. Rogers said now that St. Maarten has established their Interpol office on the island, an investigation was conducted by Police Inspector Bloeiman on the whereabouts of said suspect identified as E.L.F, born in Curacao, 51 years old.
The investigation showed that the above mentioned convict was convicted for manslaughter in the Netherlands since 1996. He was residing on St. Maarten. The local Prosecutor's office was immediately notified by the police officer in charge of Interpol Affairs on St. Maarten and the green light was given to the Police Department to arrest the convict so that he can be sent back to Holland for further investigation or to sit out his remaining sentence. E.L.F was arrested on Friday the 20th of July 2012, in the vicinity of the Police Station by the Zero Tolerance and Uniform Divisions and brought to the Police Station so that he could be led in front of an Acting Prosecutor. Thereafter, the Prosecutor's Office was contacted and the necessary arrangements have been made for him to travel back to Holland to further sit out his remaining prison sentence. During the investigation, the Police Department also learned that E.L.F is working for the Government of St. Maarten in the IT Department and was residing in the Belvedere area.
It is not clear how the Personnel Department of the Government of St. Maarten hired Fos shortly after he escaped from the Netherlands and if the department did proper screening when he applied for the job as an IT technician. Several civil servants told SMN News on Tuesday that the Government of St. Maarten did not screen people in the past and as such there are number of persons they alleged are working for government even though they have a criminal record. Many persons felt sympathy for Fos because according to them they might have done the same thing if someone raped their daughter, while others said that Fos took the law into his own hands. "Why didn't he take his daughter to the police and let the law deal with the man that he claimed raped her. He is a fugitive with a record and he should not have been working for government," said a high ranking civil servant.
In an invited comment, Minister of Justice Roland Duncan said that in the past the Government of St. Maarten used to hire people pending the receipt of a certificate of good conduct because it would take months before someone could have obtained such a document. However, all of that has changed now because unless someone can produce a certificate of good conduct they will not be hired.
