The couple had caught the attention of officers from the prefectural immigration department. The woman, MDC, was 25 years old at the time, was a native of Cuba and shared her life with a Saint-Martinois 34 years her senior, LD. Together they had a child and it is in this capacity, as the mother of a child born in France to a French father, that the young woman is applying for a residence permit in 2019.
Immigration officials have doubts about the authenticity of the community living certificate. A report is then made by the prefect to the public prosecutor's office. An investigation was opened after which MDC and LD were prosecuted, she for fraudulently obtaining an administrative document, drawing up and using an inaccurate certificate in order to obtain a residence permit. Him for the establishment of the said certificate. They appeared Thursday morning before the local court of Saint-Martin.
On the stand, they explained that they were a real couple and claimed that at the time of the child's birth, they were not living together but were together.
What had challenged the investigators were the couple's age difference, that LD had recognized the baby a week after his birth and that he was already the father of eight children with different mothers, some of whom are foreign. “Although the file is voluminous, there is nothing in the procedure which makes it possible to characterize the alleged facts”, declared the court which, a few minutes earlier, had agreed that “cohabitation is not a condition of the community of life.
After deliberating, the court released the two defendants who left the courtroom hand in hand. (soualigapost.com)
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