The Public Prosecution Service demands an 18-month prison sentence (6 months suspended) against a 52-year-old suspect from Almelo for a severe assault committed together with his son at a playground on Steffensweg in Almelo on June 30, 2023. Only after a broadcast of the investigation program Opsporing Verzocht in March 2024 could the suspect be arrested. “We are talking about senseless violence in the fullest sense of the word,” said the public prosecutor today during the justification of the sentence request in the court in Almelo.
On that day, around 6:45 PM, the victim confronts a young man who is speeding towards the entrance of a playground on a scooter. It seems, after an argument, to end without incident, until the scooter rider brings in his father. During the subsequent fight, the victim is thrown to the ground, beaten, and kicked multiple times. He suffers several bone fractures in his face and ends up in the hospital.
After the broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht, several tips come in to the police. Father and son are arrested and interrogated in August 2024. Both ultimately provide a confession to the police. The Public Prosecution Service: “The suspect has done everything to remain off the police radar and chose not to report himself. Opsporing Verzocht was then necessary to achieve a breakthrough in this case. All that time, the victim lived in fear, uncertainty, and with questions.”
The victim, the public prosecutor states, has been working in the playground (where the assault took place) for years to ensure a pleasant and safe place for children to play and for parents to meet. “During this effort, he first gets a big mouth and is then brutally beaten into the hospital,” said the Public Prosecution Service.
Regarding the sentence request, the public prosecutor said today: “A strong response must stand against this behavior. On the one hand as a reckoning for the suspect, but on the other hand also as a strong signal to the suspect and society that this kind of violence results in a severe punishment.”
The co-defendant in this case, the son of the suspect who appeared in court today, was sentenced to community service under juvenile criminal law in November 2024.
