The twenty-somethings Amber, Rianne, Brian and Jens came face to face for the first time today with the man who changed their lives forever in December last year. 28-year-old Danny V. then got into the car with a drink and drove the group from behind. Their friend Jesse Smit (20) did not survive this. “When I first saw him, I panicked. He hit us all.”
The tension is palpable in the court of Alkmaar: friends, family, those involved and relatives, but also the suspect and his family are present. The balance is drawn up on the research into that fatal accident on the Voorburggracht in Oudkarspel.
It is December 12 and Max Verstappen has just become world champion. Dozens of young people were let out in cafe De Heerlijkheid. Also friends Amber, Rianne, Brian, Jens and Jesse. “It’s our favorite pub,” said Brian (21). “On the way back we would get some snacks and see someone at AZ-Ajax. And then, it happened in a flash.”
‘Wake up on the sidewalk’
The cycling group of five is hit from behind by a dark van. “I can remember waking up and lying on the sidewalk with a lot of people around me. I actually had no idea what had happened,” says Amber (21).
She has an open fracture, stitches, a concussion and lots of bruises. “I have had problems with my foot for a long time, but physically it is getting better and better. Mentally it is not going well. There is so much sadness, incomprehension, anger. Because of the accident, because of the death of our friend. How could someone have done this? to be?”
“How can you get behind the wheel drunk, hit us and drive on?”
The man they are hit by doesn’t stop. Danny V. from North Scharwoude drives home after the crash, puts the bus in a shed and, the public prosecutor said this afternoon, without saying anything to his girlfriend, he goes for a walk with the dog. There is disbelief among the relatives in the room.
When the police ring Danny’s doorbell a few hours after the accident, the officer says he talks with a double tongue and smells of alcohol. According to the Public Prosecution Service, a test shows that he has four times the permitted blood alcohol level in his blood. “He immediately informed how the victims were doing.”
A day later he declares at the desk that he went into the pub ‘and got behind the wheel with his drunk head’. After the accident, he drove on out of panic. “And that is not illogical, given how much drink he had and his criminal history,” said the officer.
Jesse Smith
A week after the accident, 20-year-old Jesse Smit dies and Langedijk is devastated with grief. “We have had almost no time to mourn,” says father John Smit about this today. “We have a landscaping company, so we can’t say: we’re shutting things down. But this lawsuit doesn’t help either. It’s brought up every time.”
John makes himself heard a few times inside the courtroom. “What a bullshit!” he yells, when Danny V. Mayke Goris’s attorney requests the court to have her client examined for trauma that may leave him with amnesia. His counsel also made a request for a new blood alcohol test.
Danny V. also spoke: “I find it very difficult to express in words. When I look at the impact it has on my life, I cannot imagine how bad it must be for the victims and relatives. I I hope they can look me in the eye one day, but I also understand if they can’t.”
“The court has done its word. And that is positive for us”
Outside, ‘the survivors’ Rianne, Brian Jens and Amber are talking. “I just saw him for the first time”, referring to Danny, “It was so intense and strange to see someone like that in person. Intense,” said Amber, who is studying to become a biomedical analyst.
“It makes me happy that he is so sorry. But on the other hand, I don’t know what to believe. It seemed meaningless. How can you get behind the wheel drunk, hit us and drive on?”
The accident on December 12 had such an impact on 21-year-old Rianne that she temporarily stopped her studies creative business† “I just have to write a thesis, but I couldn’t do that for a while. I hope to start on that after the summer.”
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And Jens (almost 21) was also in very bad shape after the accident and is still struggling with a sore knee. “Probably a tear in my meniscus,” he says. He is, however, enjoying a study in commercial economics and a part-time job as a living room assistant in a care institution in Egmond aan Zee.
And finally, if your car has a problem, you can go to Brian (21), who has just obtained a diploma in auto mechanic. He is satisfied with how the session went today. “I thought it went well. The court has done its word. And that is positive for us.”
The judge rejected the requests of Danny V.’s lawyer (28). He has also lost his driver’s license for at least six months. The police investigation has now been completed and additional victim and injury statements are now awaited. A date for a substantive hearing has not yet been announced.