Suspended prison sentence for drug trafficking at the SXM Festival

On 14 March 2024, the gendarmerie was alerted by the organiser of the SXM Festival to suspected drug dealing on the premises. Filmed in the toilets by a security guard, the man was with a female festival-goer and was preparing a sachet of pink powder, identified as 2C-B. The police found two bags of cocaine, 25 ecstasy tablets, 7.74 grams of MDMA, a 0.59-gram bag of cannabis, as well as $561 and €90 in cash on the defendant. Tests revealed he tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamines. During the hearing, the man denied having sold narcotics, whilst admitting to being a user of various drugs. However, several witness statements, as well as a video, implicated him. The court found him guilty of all the charges against him: illicit use, transport, possession, acquisition, and unauthorised supply or transfer of narcotics. Although he had been investigated in 2022 for similar offences, he had been acquitted due to a procedural issue and his criminal record was then clean. Last Friday, the court in Saint Martin sentenced him to 18 months’ imprisonment, the entire sentence being suspended for a probationary period of 24 months. As part of this, the defendant must: undergo compulsory treatment, undertake compulsory work and pay the sums owed to the Treasury. The court has also banned him from entering venues hosting the SXM Festival, as well as Rue Saint-James in Marigot and Rue de Sandy Ground.