45-year-old Hans O. has been frowned upon by everyone since his release in May 2022. “Always. From the moment I get out of bed and go back to bed. I am not doing well,” O. told the court in Leeuwarden.
O. has been acquitted of murdering Ralf Meinema from Klazienaveen. The body of 31-year-old Meinema was found in the trunk of his car in the early morning of March 2017. The car was half dangling in the water of the Stieltjeskanaal between Coevorden and Zandpol. According to the higher judge, Meinema was “gigantically deceived, gigantically. People say that the perpetrators acted like animals. I don’t say that, then you are unfair to animals.”
O. just wants to say that he had nothing to do with Meinema’s murder. He had an appointment with Meinema the night before, about a business. He had met Meinema by chance a few days earlier and Meinema offered him something. What, O. doesn’t want to say.
O. was already interviewed by the police as a witness on April 2, 2017. The Emmen resident did not say a word about this meeting, the evening before the body was found. “I didn’t want to be involved in that, I wanted that to be a far-away show,” O said.
The counselor (judge at the court) does not understand O.. The police investigation soon revealed that O. had contact with the victim around the time of the murder. O. may have been the last person to see Ralf Meinema. “Why not say ‘gosh man, I spoke to him last night’. No, you will keep your teeth together for two months,” the judge said. There are parents, brothers and a sister who are full of questions, the judge told O.. “It’s one dark puzzle for them. You can at least put one piece together.”
Ralf’s parents and sister exercised their right to speak. “It cannot be that the perpetrators of the atrocity on my son continue to walk around unpunished,” the father sounded emotional. After six and a half years, they are still in the dark as to what happened and by whom. “Ralf’s voice can no longer be heard, he has been silenced. If he knew what had been done to his family, he would turn in the grave,” said the victim’s mother.
O. was acquitted by the court in Assen in May 2022. The judge at the time called the evidence presented “too little”. According to the judges in Assen, there are ‘strong indications of the suspect’s involvement, but it remains unclear what exactly happened’. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded eighteen years in prison. And appealed against this acquittal. “The Public Prosecution Service is of the opinion that the court incorrectly assessed the evidence,” the Advocate General (AG) said.
This afternoon the Public Prosecution Service will speak and demand what punishment should be imposed.