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During the regional meeting held on Tuesday, February 3, at the Collectivité hotel, on the topics of security and mobility, a resident of Saint Barthélemy took the floor to express his concern about the lack of progress in a legal case. Unable to contain his emotion, the man first questioned the gendarmerie representatives about their methods of communication with the public prosecutor. In particular, he emphasized the fact that he had repeatedly reported the alleged perpetrator of sexual assaults on minors for failing to comply with judicial supervision. The last incident occurred in early 2026, when the ferry arrived from Sint Maarten. The gendarmes arrested the man under judicial supervision before he was released.
The case began in January 2020, when adult women and men filed a complaint against a 70-year-old male member of their family. They accused him of sexually abusing them when they were children. This prompted other people on the island, unrelated to the complainants or the person targeted by the accusations, to file complaints of their own for similar acts. From the 1980s to 2000, the man worked as a school bus driver in Saint Barthélemy.
Arrested and taken into custody, the former school bus driver reportedly admitted to some of the allegations. The investigation conducted by the investigating judge in charge of the case ended in 2023 with an indictment for attempted incestuous rape of a minor under the age of 15 and incestuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 15. The logical next step should have been a trial. But a legal battle ensued. The alleged perpetrator and his lawyer demanded, in particular, the annulment of the indictment or a reopening of the investigation. Since then, every appeal filed with the Court of Cassation has been rejected. Scheduled for October 2025, the trial was postponed to April 2026 and then to May 2026. There is no guarantee that it will actually take place on the scheduled dates.
Placed under judicial supervision, the alleged perpetrator lives in Saint Barthélemy but is allowed to travel to Saint Martin (French part), Guadeloupe, and Martinique. As for the people who identified him as their attacker, they continue to wait for the trial to begin.
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Shortcomings and delays in the justice system Several interventions during the territorial meeting on security focused on the situation of victims of assault in Saint Barthélemy. One participant explained that she had recently been confronted with "a situation" and remarked: "I find it unfortunate that, at present in Saint Barthélemy, when it comes to sexual assault on a minor, it is the victim and the parent who have to leave the island to be safe. There are many cases. Some have been brought to justice, others are ongoing. But I don't understand how an abuser can remain quietly at home on the island while the victims are forced to leave." As for the president of the Collectivité, he assures us that he has spoken "a dozen or so times with the attorney general" to discuss "cases that are not progressing and court decisions that are not being enforced." He notes: "Nothing is moving forward. I dare not imagine that there is any will to do anything. But it is taking far too long, and it is unacceptable that the victims should suffer as a result." |
