Our reporter Saskia Belleman is present at the case and tweets along live. Her tweets can be found at the bottom of this post.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, N. and Hamza T. (23) from Rotterdam are part of a group of a total of eight men who are suspected of a series of violent robberies. The court started on Tuesday on the first day of hearing to discuss the armed robbery of Nikkie de Jager and her fiancé.
The victims were sitting outside when four men in balaclavas walked into the garden on August 8, 2020. The victims were forcibly dragged inside, under threat of a firearm and a knife. They were kicked and beaten. The makeup artist’s partner was injured. The victims were tied up with duct tape and ropes. “We have to tie you up. You have to sit for half an hour, otherwise we will come back and you will have problems,” the robbers shouted. And: “Where’s the safe?”
Valuable jewelry
The robbers made off with, among other things, a lot of valuable jewelry from Nikkie de Jager. One of the robbers tried to cut off the jewelry on her wrist.
The suspects were registered by surveillance cameras around the house. The images show that the robbers arrived at around 3:33 PM and left at 3:56 PM. Nearby was a getaway car with stolen license plates, according to police. A witness noted the false license plate and saw the men get in with a black bag. The car itself, with a striking panoramic roof, would have been in the name of T. that week, the justice authorities suspect. DNA of co-defendant N. was found in the house, including on a loop of a cord and on the victim’s telephone.
T. used fifteen different telephone numbers, but he also said he also lent telephones. In the months prior to the robbery, one of the numbers attributed to him made use of a transmission tower in Uden, De Jager’s hometown. “Do you ever come there? Not a place where there is much to do”, one of the judges wanted to know, after which T. remained silent. One of his other numbers is said to have been used during the robbery.
René van der Gijp
A third suspect in the case of Nikkie de Jager is on trial on Wednesday, together with a suspect in the failed robbery of René van der Gijp. He was in his car in front of his home on April 27, 2020 when he was attacked by three masked men. They slammed into the Today Inside analyst’s car, but eventually fled with no loot. Van der Gijp owes this to his car with armored windows. He suspects that the perpetrators were after his Rolex watch.
Sentencing is expected on Friday.