Three times in quick succession, the center of The Hague was shaken awake by explosions last year. On June 10, June 12, and June 13, bombs went off at or near the same store. A lollipop stick led the police to a suspect, a 70-year-old man from Arnhem.
Camera footage from June 13 showed the perpetrator throwing away a lollipop stick. That stick was found by the police and urgently examined for DNA by the NFI. It yielded a hit, and the next day a 70-year-old man could be arrested in Arnhem. He later confessed that he caused the explosion on June 10 and 13, on commission, for money. He claimed he had the wrong door on the 10th and on the 13th he did the right door next door. The explosion on June 12, a few doors down, was not his work, according to him.
Nevertheless, the Public Prosecution Service believes he is guilty of all three explosions. All three explosions, occurring shortly after each other at almost the same location, were similar in execution. Camera footage from June 12 shows someone wearing shoes that were also found with the suspect. And among other things, his DNA is on remnants of the exploded jerrycan.
Money for Debts
The suspect stated that he worked on commission. He did not know why something had to be detonated at those locations; he was only interested in the money he received for it. The suspect had debts he hoped to get rid of. Without considering that people could potentially lose their lives, he detonated the makeshift bottles and/or jerrycans filled with gasoline that he received using fireworks.
Experts identified various possible disorders in the suspect. Therefore, he would be considered partially unaccountable. The public prosecutor took this into account in her demand for punishment, but believed that treatment for those disorders should follow in the form of involuntary commitment. She demanded a prison sentence of 5 years and involuntary commitment. The court will rule in two weeks.