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A man described as the Caribbean’s first serial killer has received a 30-year sentence for the torture and murder of a woman, days after he was given a life sentence for another double killing.
Kathron “Cuchi” Fortune, 47, was accused of “unbelievable violence” in the Assize court in Basse-Terre, in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where two separate trials were held in September and October.
On 25 September Fortune was sentenced to life with a 22-year minimum sentence, for the deaths of Jomo Maynard and Gilbert Hyman in 2005 and 2006 on the island of Saint Martin, which is divided between French and Dutch territories.
On Wednesday, he received a separate 30-year sentence, with at least 20 years to be served, for torturing and killing Angélique Chauviré in 2006, also in Saint Martin.
The verdict was welcomed by Sandra Chirac-Kollarik, the lawyer representing the Chauviré family.
“It’s a relief, given the savagery that this 31-year-old woman suffered. Angélique Chauviré’s family said very few words to me. But I think they welcome this new sentence,” she said.
Maitre Karine Linon, the lawyer representing the family of Hyman, said: “This case is unusual and it will go down in history simply because we are dealing with a defendant who is a serial killer.”
Fortune had previously been convicted of three other murders which were committed on the Dutch side of the island, known as Sint Maarten.
Fortune is originally from Grenada. In 2007, he was given a 21-year sentence by the Dutch court of appeal for the 2005 murder of Ervin Margarita, 23. But he escaped custody during a doctor’s visit in February 2016.
In December that year, he killed Luis Sarante Diaz and Edwin Rosario Contreras in what was thought to be a botched drug deal at the Simpson Bay Resort in Sint Maarten. Their bodies were found eight months later in a lagoon several miles from the hotel.
Fortune fled to the neighbouring Caribbean island of Saint Kitts in July 2017, armed with a rifle, wearing body armour, and carrying a substantial amount of cash. He was immediately arrested and deported back to Sint Maarten that same month.
Weeks later, hurricane Irma devastated Sint Maarten in September 2017 and damaged parts of its prison. He was transferred to a prison in Curaçao before being moved to a maximum-security facility in the Netherlands. In June 2019, Fortune was convicted for Diaz and Rosario’s killings.
While still in prison in the Netherlands, Fortune was tried in absentia by a French court in 2020 for the deaths of Maynard, Hyman, Chauviré and sentenced to life. But he was able to successfully file an objection to the case being held in his absence, which reopened the case for a trial at which he could be present.
Guadeloupe’s attorney general Élodie Rouchouse told the court that Fortune’s case had been complicated by the fact that his crimes had been committed in different jurisdictions, which each had their own legal systems. “I reopened the case to see justice done. But it took a long time. Under international agreements you need the right authorisations, translated judgments, everything in place. That process took five years,” he said.
Throughout the trials in Guadeloupe, Fortune has maintained his innocence. During closing remarks he told the jury: “I know the truth will come out but I cannot give you the truth because I don’t know anything about it. I did a lot of bad things in my life. I’m not proud of them, but I don’t see why I should be convicted for a crime I did not do.”
Fortune’s lawyer, Gérald Coralie, has since confirmed that an appeal has been filed for both cases. He will be returned to the Netherlands later this month and his appeal is due to be heard in Paris.
