CAY HILL--A woman's Suzuki Alto plunged nearly thirty feet down from Cay Hill Tuesday with her and her husband inside.
The woman lost control of the car on Sarsapilla Road while turning around to descend the hillside, sending the car plummeting down the hill onto another road. It happened on a road adjacent to Alexi Arnell (Cake House) Road about 6:00pm. A Nissan X-Trail SUV parked on the lower road stopped the falling car's possibly-deadly descent as it and its two occupants slid toward a house below.
The woman suffered only mild bruises to her knee and some scratches. Her husband, who was in the front passenger seat, escaped unhurt.
"It could've been worse," said the optimistic-but-shaken women as she watched policemen and reporters assess the scene.
The car landed on its right side. That entire side was scratched and crumpled, and the car was pinned between the X-Trail and a wall apparently built to ease erosion and deflect rushing water. The Alto's windshield was smashed. Its roof and trunk also were damaged.
Car experts called the Alto a total loss.
The crash damaged the X-Trail's left side, scraping off the driver's door handle and leaving it inaccessible from the left. Damage to the SUV was mostly aesthetic.
Hungry's towed the car down the hillside and onto A.J.C. Brouwer Road to its Sucker Garden impound lot.

PHILIPSBURG--Commissioner and United People's (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger wants the Island Government to honour agreements made with The Westin St. Maarten Dawn Beach Resort and Spa and Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino, regarding the properties receiving exemption from paying room tax.

Both resorts have "letters of comfort" from Government, outlining Government's intention to amend the Room Tax Island Ordinance in such a manner that a waiver of room taxes can be granted for brand name resort developments for a period of time.

And, should the amended ordinance not be in place by a certain date, Government would partially waive certain fees payable by the resort for a period of time. Maho's letter of comfort was granted in 2003 and Westin's in 2005.

Heyliger said he wants these comfort letters honoured "to safeguard Government's integrity, and by extension, hundreds of jobs." "This issue can have far-reaching consequences, and there comes a time when we have to rise above party politics," he said, adding that he intended to make this clear to the Executive Council.

The Island Receiver is currently attempting to recoup years of unpaid room tax from Westin and Maho. As the ordinance was never amended, the hotel properties are obliged by law to pay the outstanding taxes. Maho has reportedly paid a portion of the tax outstanding, but is apparently seeking an audience with Government to discuss the issue.

The Executive Council is reportedly working on some sort of solution, but this is still being studied by advisors and probably by Legal Affairs. Westin and Government are currently in a legal fight over the resort's outstanding taxes. That case is expected to be heard in a month's time.

Heyliger is concerned about the island's image to investors, and the possibility arising of people having to lose their jobs if the hotels are forced to pay millions in back-taxes after the Island Government did not ensure that it lived up to its commitments. "It does not look good when investors cannot trust commitments of the Executive Council," he said.

"As the Room Tax Ordinance was never amended, the resorts took advantage of the reduced fees that were offered in the comfort letter, and that did little to cover the substantial investment needed to acquire the brand," Maho management contends.

The comfort letter recognised that substantial investments would be necessary in order to acquire an international hotel chain franchise, and it clearly committed Government to assisting the resorts.

"The investments to acquire the franchise were substantial, and, on the basis of this letter, Sonesta Resorts went forward with its investment in the properties, expecting the amendments to the Room Tax Ordinance to be formalised as indicated," the statement further read.

"We can only hope that Government will take the responsibility and honour its commitments by making the necessary amendments to the Room Tax Ordinance, and retroactively provide the resorts with the relief in the room tax payments that they were originally led to believe would be theirs under the ordinance," Maho's management said.

Heyliger said the letters of comfort were above any one political party, as no one political party had granted the letters. "It was the Government of St. Maarten, so it was our responsibility to get it done. Reneging on these commitments does not bode well for our image and could have serious consequences," he warned.

PHILIPSBURG--The appeal case against a 45-year-old Sri Lankan who had been convicted by the Court of First Instance on human smuggling charges was dropped Wednesday because his case file had gone missing.

Solicitor General Ton van der Schans was not amused when he learned that the Prosecutor's case against Sribaskaran Sivananthan had been dropped by the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba because the man's file was not available.

The judges of the Appellate Court stated that as there was no file on Sivananthan's case, the Prosecutor's appeal could not be handled.

The Sri Lankan was sentenced on September 21, 2009, to three years, six months of which were suspended, with two years' probation. The Prosecutor had requested seven years.

The Judge in the Court of First Instance had found it proven that Sivananthan had arranged transport of seven compatriots from Sri Lanka to St. Thomas via St. Maarten.

Together with four other suspects he was found guilty of involvement in a shipment of Haitians and Sri Lankans from Simpson Bay to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The boat Ajada that was used in the voyage capsized after hitting a reef off the British Virgin Islands on January 20, 2009. A passing fishing boat rescued 13 migrants, while five men, two women and three children went missing.

Immigration sent Sivananthan back to Sri Lanka on February 14, after he had sat out one-third of his sentence.

Co-suspect Terrence Williams (46) of St. Kitts is expected to follow soon. His appeal case also was due to be handled Wednesday, but was suspended until June 26, because his file also was missing.

Expectations are that he will be repatriated soon, but will be allowed to return to St. Maarten to be present at his retrial.

The Court of First Instance had sentenced Williams to 34 months, six of which were suspended, with two years' probation, for having repaired the boat that was used in the human smuggling operation.

The appeal case against Sagnello E. Walwyn of St. Kitts, who received a six-month sentence, is on the Joint Court's docket for today, Thursday.

WILLEMSTAD--Parents in the Netherlands Antilles soon will have the right to select what last name to give their children. Only the father's surname is currently allowed by law.

Parliament will deal on Tuesday with an amendment to the Antillean Civil Code deemed the "Right of Last Name." This change will allow a child born in wedlock or acknowledged by a father to also carry the mother's surname or a combination of the two parents' names as the parents so choose.

Outgoing President of Parliament Pedro Atacho told the press Wednesday morning that this was another move to give women equal and more rights under Antillean law. This announcement comes two days after the country marked International Women's Day on March 8.

Another change to the Civil Code pertaining to family matters is also in the hands of Parliament. The Central Committee will discuss on Monday a draft amendment on the "Declaration of Paternity." This draft, which will be up to the new Parliament that takes office on March 26 to approve, aims to give more rights to children born out of wedlock and unrecognised by their fathers.

The draft amendment will allow such a child to have a father listed on his or her birth certificate. However, the amendment will exclude the child from claiming any inheritance if the father is deceased.

This amendment will bring the Netherlands Antilles in line with most European and Caribbean countries that have already made this provision for unacknowledged children under the "status of children" or similar acts.

A total of 15,268 children were born in Curaçao from 2000 to 2006. Of them, 3,898 were "without a father," meaning their birth certificates stated "father unknown" because they were not acknowledged for various reasons.

That number of unacknowledged children accounts for 25 per cent of the total births in Curaçao. "This means that of every 2,000 babies born in Curacao annually, 1,000 were recognised, 500 were the product of a marriage and another 500 were born without a father recognising them," Atacho had said in an earlier press statement.

Breakdowns of birth figures for the other four Antillean islands, including St. Maarten, will be presented to Parliament in "due time."

The absence of legislation to assist unacknowledged children is considered a violation of the International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights and the Treaty on Human Rights.

The Central Committee was slated to handle this amendment last week, but chose to delay to obtain "some technical advice" from Judge Jan de Boer of the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. De Boer meets with the committee Monday morning and the amendment will be handled directly afterward.