The Public Prosecution Service demands a 15-month prison sentence for a 28-year-old suspect for an assault that resulted in the death of the victim. “If the suspect had stayed seated in the train and had not chased after the victim, keeping his hands to himself, the man would not have died in this manner,” stated the public prosecutor today during the justification of the sentence request in the court in Arnhem.
In the train from Zutphen to Dieren, early in the evening on February 17, 2022, a man who appears confused bothers other passengers. At some point, he leaves the compartment, and then a 28-year-old man from Deventer stands up, follows his victim, and strikes him with his fist, causing the victim to fall.
According to the conductor, there was a verbal altercation between the two men. A witness sees the later victim leaving the train compartment, after which the suspect suddenly stands up and follows the victim. It is seen that the suspect gave his victim a hard blow in the next train car. Surveillance footage shows the suspect following the victim.
At Dieren station, alerted police find the victim bleeding, with a wound on his nose. He is barely responsive, claims to have consumed alcohol, and is unable to stand on his own. In the hospital, a partial spinal cord injury is diagnosed.
On February 25, he dies as a result of the spinal cord injury sustained.
The Public Prosecution Service considers the assault proven based on the file: It can be established that the suspect followed the victim from behind and unexpectedly attacked him by striking him or pushing him hard. In that fall, the victim fell forward and at least hit his head against something. The injury to his face supports that scenario.
Three experts have reported in this case. According to the pathologist who performed the autopsy on the victims body, the victim died as a result of spinal cord injury caused by overstretching of the neck due to blunt force impact on the head. Based on reports from the experts, the public prosecutor concludes today as follows: the actions of the suspect were an indispensable link in the events that led to the victims death. If the suspect had not used violence, there would have been no spinal cord damage and the victim would not have died from it. The injury is the result of the violence applied by the suspect. The victims death can be attributed to the suspect.
The Public Prosecution Service continued: “The image of the victim that lingers with me is that of a confused man who was addressing people in the train. A man who was a nuisance to everyone and no one at the same time. He was angry and yes, he insulted people. When confronted with someone like that, you can do two things. You can ignore him and not engage. Then he will eventually walk away. That was also the case here, as he walked away and had already left the train compartment. But the suspect made a different choice. A completely unnecessary choice for which he is criminally responsible.”
In the case of an assault with fatal consequences, in the opinion of the Public Prosecution Service, no other punishment is appropriate than imprisonment. The Public Prosecution Service regrets that this criminal case can only now be heard in court, but attributes that mainly to the influence of the defense on the course of the proceedings. The Public Prosecution Service finds this undesirable, also for the suspect in this case. Given those circumstances, the prosecutor does not moderate his sentence request due to the passage of time.