In his head, Hans (51) is still completely there, but because of ALS he is in a wheelchair and can hardly speak. And that is why the Alkmaarder had to watch helplessly as burglars stole his watch this spring. Then burglars strike twice more. By sharing camera images, the family hopes that the perpetrators will be caught.
In the Oudorp district of Alkmaar, on the edge of Sint Pancras, Hans is sitting at home in his chair in front of the TV. Home care worker Irma has just fed him and son Timo (18) helps with communication.
“I remember running from my mother’s house to here,” the teen recalls the night of the first burglary at his single dad. “I found him shaking and shivering under a blanket. How can you do such a thing? Especially with someone who is disabled and can’t defend themselves!”
The first burglary
It is May 17th, around one o’clock in the morning and Hans is standing in the dining room. He is ready to go to bed when suddenly he hears a rumbling outside. It will take five minutes, he will later explain to the police. And the stress forces him to focus all his attention on staying balanced.
Four years ago, the deadly muscle disease ALS was diagnosed at the Alkmaarder. His alarm button, which he usually wears in case of a fall, is already hanging by his bed that night in the makeshift bedroom on the ground floor.
“I was standing by my walker and heard how they tried to open several doors. They eventually came in through the garage,” says Hans. They are two men, he recalls, both dressed in black and with hoods over their heads.
They notice that he is there, but they walk right past Hans. “And in a straight line they then went to my precious watch, which was under an envelope on the dining table. They clearly knew the way, that I am an invalid and where the watch was and where I always take it off.”
“The police said: they won’t come back anyway. But burglars came back twice more”
They also talk to each other a few times, pull out two more drawers in the living room – possibly for the car key – and eventually leave the house via the same route. They even lock the door. What seems? The men entered with the keys from the secure locker on the outside wall.
Second burglary
About thirty people visit Hans every week: the home care employees who feed him, wash him or the physio. Because he is not really able to open every time, those people have the code of the key box.
And so Hans and his loved ones get the idea that someone from that group must have leaked the information about the key box and also the expensive watch. The code is immediately changed that day, but then something happens again. Text continues after the photo
The day (May 18) after that, at night, around the same time as the first burglary, the care center arrives that Hans has pressed the alarm button. Two more men appear to have tried to open the key box. “He saw them through the window, stood face to face with them,” his ex-wife Anoeska told NH Nieuws.
She is furious: apparently people had the nerve to try something again. “The coolness with which they work. And the police also said: they really won’t come back.” It doesn’t stop here either, at the beginning of August, when the family has just recovered a bit, two men do it again.
‘I saw on vacation via the app that two men wanted to break in’
Timo is then on holiday in Greece and in the club where he is partying with friends, he opens the app for the security camera, which has now been hung on the side of Hans’ house. He does that every night. “I just suddenly saw two men sneak up to my dad’s door, stand there and want to break in.”
They are in the picture
In a panic, he calls his mother to tell her to go there. Anoeska: “With trembling hands I then walked to his house with the dog and the telephone to my ear with the police.” When she is almost there, a scooter with the suspected perpetrators races past her.
In the video below you can see how two men with a bag stand at the door, look around and put on gloves. Because this is a burglaryattempt their faces have been blurred at the request of the police.
Text continues after the video
Who recognizes these men? – NH News
Anoeska is moved by all the neighbors who are now alert to her ex-husband. “Hans wants to continue living at home and receive care there. And I completely understand that: he is only 51 and does not belong in a retirement home at all. But that is why social control is really necessary. I also want to say that with this interview: watch each other.”
Hans’ permanent care team is also involved. “They really didn’t do it, they really didn’t leak that code. They are so good, sweet and were so shocked by the break-in. But there have also been a lot of invaders during the holidays. Maybe that’s how it went?”
‘Watch was for my son’
The police have been asked whether an investigation is underway into staff of the relevant home care provider. A spokesperson could not confirm this. He does say that no one has been arrested yet. NH Nieuws has not yet been able to reach the healthcare provider.
At home, Irma from home care sits next to Hans. He is getting tired from all the talking, but can still say with a mischievous laugh that she is ‘his favourite’. The events made a deep impression on her too. “I think it’s terrible. And I’m especially happy that they didn’t do anything to Hans. And I, but also my colleagues, are now extra alert.”
De Alkmaarder hopes that the perpetrators will be caught. “Look, someone like me, with a death sentence like ALS, is no longer awake about this. But I am very angry. That watch was very dear to me. I worked hard for it and I can also have beautiful things. Moreover, it was ultimately the intention that Timo would get it.”
Do you have any tips about this case or do you recognize a similar incident? Then mail to [email protected].