Suspect Ismaël el B. is appearing in court for the first time today in the case surrounding the death of Hoofddorp tattoo artist Steve Mahakena. El B. is the owner of the tattoo parlor where Steve worked. He is suspected of having assaulted his employee so severely in a home on Egholm in Hoofddorp last March that he died.
Steve worked at the Pax tattoo shop in the De Symfonie shopping center in Venneps. The extract from the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) shows that suspect Ismaël el B. is the owner of that shop, just like a tattoo parlor in Amsterdam.
Drug boss
It is not clear whether El B. will appear in court today or be represented by his lawyer Jan-Hein Kuipers. It is known that El B. already has a criminal record. He was sentenced to death by the court in Haarlem in 2013 sentenced to 7 years in prison for drug trafficking, human trafficking, assault and participation in a criminal organization, NH wrote at the time.
That ball started rolling after a number of drug couriers went to the police with stories about their boss El B. In the previous years, he ran a drug delivery service, where users could order their drugs and have them delivered.
He forced his couriers to work weeks of up to eighty hours. And those who wanted to leave the business were threatened or even abused by El B. The court characterized El B. as ‘cruel, violent and ruthless’.
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Pro forma meeting
The first hearing in this case is a pro forma hearing. This means that the case has not yet been substantively dealt with. However, the Public Prosecution Service often tells the suspect exactly what offenses he is suspected of. A pro forma hearing is necessary if a case must have been heard within a certain period, but it is still too early to deal with the substance. It is examined whether the suspect must wait for the hearing in (limited) freedom or remain in custody.
Back to Tuesday morning, March 7. Around 11 a.m. an air ambulance is called for an injured person in an apartment in a complex on Egholm in Hoofddorp. The victim is resuscitated, but that help comes too late: he dies shortly afterwards.
Because a forensic doctor discovers traces of violence on the body, the police are called. He finds the circumstances so suspicious that the Large-Scale Investigation Team is assigned to the case. On Tuesday evening, the police announced that a dead person had been found and that they cannot rule out that the victim died as a result of a crime.
Neighborhood survey
In addition to trace evidence, the police investigate the neighborhood the next day continues at full speed. The police are questioning neighbors of the apartment on the second floor, and NH is also trying to get more information on Wednesday.
A resident of a third-floor apartment did not want to respond on camera, but told reporter Celine Sulsters that she suspected she had witnessed it. “I heard lots of screaming coming from the house. There was an argument, but that is of course possible. The next day I saw all this.”
Read more below the video.
Investigation into death in Hoofddorp apartment still ongoing – NH News
Later that day, police announced that the deceased person was not the resident of the apartment. That resident was only interrogated, but not arrested. NH discovers that the deceased person is locally known tattoo artist Steve Mahakena.
The news of Steve’s death hits shopkeepers in the De Symfonie shopping center like a bomb. Several fellow entrepreneurs describe him as a ‘friendly guy’ who always had time for a chat.
Read more below the video
Shopkeepers at De Symfonie shopping center mourn tattoo artist Steve – NH News
Two days after his funeral the police announce more about the suspicious circumstances under which Steve’s body was found. His injuries indicate that he died shortly before his death may have fought, as announced in the Opsporing Verzocht program. The resident of the house where Mahakena was found was interviewed after his death, but is not considered a suspect, the police said.
News about the case then takes more than a month and a half to arrive. On June 5, forensic investigation appears to be looking for traces again. This time not in the apartment(s) on the Egholm, but in ditches and a pond nearby. Whether anything was found there may become known during today’s hearing. It starts at 10:00 am.
The police will announce this on July 10 to have arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of involvement in Mahakena’s death. The police have not announced who it is, but it is now clear that it is Ismaël el B., who turned 44 during his pre-trial detention.