The Public Prosecution Service Limburg (OM) today demanded a 12-year prison sentence against a 33-year-old man from Venray. The man is suspected of involvement in a fatal stabbing near a gas station in Oostrum (municipality of Venray) on February 20 this year. A 22-year-old man from Venray died as a result.
The stabbing took place near the gas station Fieten Olie Venray in Oostrum, after a dispute arose between the suspect and the victim. The victim was injured in this incident as a result of a stab wound. He was treated medically on site and subsequently died in the hospital.
Dispute
Camera footage shows what happened that afternoon. It is clear to see how the suspect, at the moment the dispute between the two begins, walks diagonally behind the victim. The victim had both hands in his pockets at that moment. It is the suspect who then makes several stabbing motions towards the (upper) body of the victim. It can also be seen how the victim tries to fend off these stabbing motions. At no time is it seen that the 22-year-old man tries to hit the suspect. Only after he appears to have already been hit by the suspects knife and the suspect has thrown stones at him, is it seen that the victim runs after the suspect. According to the Public Prosecution Service, there is clearly no question of swinging movements intended only to keep the victim at a distance, as the suspect stated during his police interrogations.
Intent to kill
According to the public prosecutor, there is intent to kill. The suspect, through his actions, ended the life of a 22-year-old young man. Someone who fled the war in Syria together with his mother and then decided to travel alone to the Netherlands, to work and earn money and thereby help support his family. This serious offense can only be punished with a long prison sentence. I demand 12 years imprisonment with deduction of the time the suspect has spent in pre-trial detention. In addition, I request the imposition of a compensation measure for the mother of the suspect.
The courts verdict will be in two weeks.
