PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten-
Four French nationals were convicted Thursday of beating two gay tourists from New York on this Dutch Caribbean island in a brutal attack that left one of the victims, an employee of the CBS News show “48 Hours,” with brain damage.
Three citizens of the island’s French half, Glen Cockly, Micheline Delaney and Allan Daniel, and a man from the nearby French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Michel Javois, were found guilty of public violence and grievous bodily harm by Judge Jan Bosch.
Bosch determined that Javois, nicknamed Duracell, was the one who assaulted Ryan Smith and Richard Jefferson with a tire iron as they left a bar with friends on April 6.
Smith suffered brain damage and was unable to speak properly for months. Jefferson’s skull was cracked by a blow from the tire iron.
Javois, who led the others in the attack, received a six-year prison sentence, while Cockly and Daniel got three-year terms.
“They received the lesser amount because they kicked and threw punches but did not use the tire iron in the attack,” said Public Prosecutor Taco Stein, who had sought a conviction of attempted murder against Javois.
Delaney, accused of kicking one of the victims while he was on the ground, will spend six months incarcerated. Stein said she tried to stop the attack and had expressed remorse.
Javois has denied any involvement in the attack and continues to maintain his innocence. The other three claimed they had only minor roles in the incident, and their lawyers noted that each had surrendered to authorities.
Jefferson, a senior broadcast producer for the weekend edition of the CBS evening news, had described the attack as a hate crime. He welcomed the verdict but questioned whether the prison terms were enough.
“Is six years, or three years, or six months, the proper penalty for permanently changing the lives of two tourists who came to ‘the Friendly Island,'” he wrote in a statement, referring to how the island bills itself. “Instead of friendliness, a pack of residents greeted us, as the judge noted, with vicious discrimination and contempt that almost killed us.”
Stein said the crime was not about the men’s sexuality.
“Being gay was not the issue here. But meaningless violence to annoy other people,” he said. “These suspects were out there to cause trouble.”
Smith, who does research and development for “48 Hours,” contested Stein’s comments.
“It was because we were gay. Period. There is no question,” said Smith, 26, who returned to work in late September. “I really hope that anybody who knows about this case doesn’t simply write it off as … public violence. This was an attack on someone based on who they are.”
Smith said he has made a full recovery despite the severity of his injuries.
“I couldn’t read at all,” he said. “I couldn’t follow conversations, and what was worse for me I couldn’t even follow my own news magazine program.”
The island, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, is shared by France and the Netherlands.
——
Associated Press writers David McFadden and Miranda Leitsinger in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.
