St. Maarten Victim Speaks Out

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN - Senior CBS News producer Richard Jefferson now has a metal plate in his head and while he jokes that his “hard-headedness is now reinforced with steel,” he says the negative publicity this tourism-driven island is receiving could easily end if people would remember their civic duty and help the police find the people who beat him and his friend Ryan Smith on April 6.
In a telephone interview with The Daily Herald Wednesday, Jefferson said he would keep the pressure on local authorities until the suspects were brought to justice. He said justice in this case would be a win for St. Maarten, as the island would be able to get “those bad guys off the streets.”
“It is up to the people of St. Maarten to stop the hurt to tourism. Otherwise, I will make sure that other people don’t fall into the same situation like me and my friend did.”
He said he was not making threats, but he was “angry” and at the same time trying to get the people of St. Maarten to remember their civic duty. “I am sure people know who did this to us and they are hiding these criminals, and that is what is hurting the island,” he stated.
Jefferson said being gay was who he was and he would not flaunt his “gayness” publicly, and his love for the island did not come from feeling he could be free to be gay, but from the general friendliness and the ability to just relax and be at ease.
He believes though, based on his friend’s explanation that Smith was hugging a friend at Bamboo Bernie’s when the culprits started making their remarks, that the incident was a “gay bashing.”
While Jefferson is out of the hospital, his friend Smith has been released from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but is now in the Head Trauma Unit suffering from severe neurological damage and reportedly will have to be taught to speak “all over.”
Jefferson said local authorities had been in contact with him and he had received flowers from the Tourism Office. He has been assured by the Chief Prosecutor that all is being done to put the culprits behind bars.
He is a bit perturbed by the fact that his friends were again asked to give statements and wonders whether the original statements were “thrown away before the police got to the station.”
Jefferson said the crime committed was not against him or Smith, but against St. Maarten, and it was up to the people of St. Maarten to do something so that the tourism economy would not suffer. He said it must be shown that the island is safe for tourists and people in general.
Jefferson said, “Obviously the boys were upset with Smith and his friend who were showing affection. But what they were talking about was the death of Smith’s cousin, which was sad.”
He said at that stage the culprits reportedly had called the two men names and after the men asked what the matter was, the culprits had grabbed chairs to beat them. The culprits were thrown out, but waited and attacked the victims near Sunset Beach Bar after 3:00am on April 6, beating them severely with a wheel wrench.
The incident has gained international attention from major media houses such as CBS, ABC and CNN.
from The Daily Herald