The Public Prosecution Service is demanding ten years in prison against Ogilvan J., who threw hot oil from a pan over a fellow prisoner in Westzaan prison two years ago. The suspect was serving a sentence there for the shooting death of rapper Gondilio Lowland – alias Bolle – in 2018. The victim was in a coma for several days, survived the attack, but suffered serious burns and other complaints.
The judges in the multiple chamber in Haarlem are taking their time this afternoon to question Ogilvan J. about the ‘why’ of his act. What possessed him to douse his fellow prisoner with scalding hot oil? J., a dark boy with a black shirt and light jeans, is sometimes difficult to understand with his soft voice. He says he was afraid of him: “He harassed me, was belittling and humiliating.”
There would have been an argument over the laundry. The two had contact earlier on the day in question, but according to the victim – a muscular white man in his thirties – there was no evidence that J. intended to do this.
Game FIFA
According to the chairman of the court, camera images show that the suspect is already busy with a pan of oil in the kitchen well before his act. At 2.16 pm the fire started, at 2.54 pm he picked up the pan and walked to the victim’s cell. He was playing a game of FIFA (football game, ed.) with other prisoners – it was recreation time.
The stories differ about exactly how it happened, but it is clear that the suspect threw the oil over his fellow prisoner. “I endured unbearable pain,” the victim says today through his lawyer, who reads an extensive statement.
“It was very intense,” a source within the prison told NH, who still remembers this day well. “The sheets were there. The perpetrator has been transferred, but the victim is still detained here.”
The victim: “It was indescribable how painful it was. (…) When you poured oil on me, you changed my life forever. I was already restricted in my freedom and already diabetic, but you have made a life even smaller.”
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The victim is urgently transferred to the burns hospital in Beverwijk. There it appears that he has burns over 22% of his body, the presiding judge reads. According to an expert consulted by the GGD, this attack could have ended fatally. The age (unknown) of the victim, his good condition and the proximity of the hospital in Beverwijk ensured that this was not the case.
Today it appears that the victim – who will be detained until March 2026 – is still experiencing serious consequences from the incident. “I’m still scared, I’ve had a terrible trauma. Fear, panic, can’t be described in words.” His lawyer says he has PTSD, will not be able to use his right arm properly and will be scarred for life. Meanwhile, J. keeps his head down.
When it’s his turn, the 25-year-old says, so softly it’s hard to hear, “It should never have happened. I’m very sorry, but I can’t take it back.” When the judge asks, he says: “I didn’t really have a plan, I don’t remember. I was so scared, that’s why it turned out that way.”
Attempted homicide
The public prosecutor says he assumes a deliberate act and an attempted murder. According to her, the fact that the pan has been on the fire for more than half an hour means that J. had plenty of time to think about his action. A telephone conversation of a cellmate of J. has also been tapped, in which he talks about the event. ‘It worked, it worked’, was one of the statements he made when he returned to his cell.
She ends up with a sentence of 10 years in prison, which if the judge agrees, will be added to his current sentence. The born Amsterdammer was sentenced to twelve years in prison in 2019. In addition to this claim, the victim is requesting compensation of 200,000 euros for the damage suffered and his family members have filed various claims.
Defense attorney
J.’s lawyer thinks both the ten-year prison term and the compensation demanded are too high. He says that there is no evidence that his client was aware that his action could have a fatal outcome. He also found the substantiation of the ‘disproportionately high’ amount insufficient.
The judge will rule on September 19 at 12:15 p.m.