Months of harassment, a dead rat on the sidewalk, a stone through the window and finally a ‘joke’ with an arson that changed everything: almost two years ago, Hilversummers Marco Witkamp and Vanessa Vos died after their house was set on fire. The trial against the three suspects in the fire will start tomorrow. A reconstruction.
Two years ago, a shock wave went through Hilversum when the morning after a fire it became known that the two residents of the house were seriously injured. That only gets bigger when it turns out that the fire also claims their lives: Vanessa dies the same day, Marco dies a day later from the consequences of the fire. Locals can’t believe it.
The two Hilversum men in their forties have been living on the Lutherhof, a quiet street in the Kerkelanden district of Hilversum, for 24 years. Local residents say they are rather to themselves. Apart from saying hello on the street, they hardly speak to other neighbours. They lead an apparently quiet life and regularly go out with the motorcycle, a beloved hobby.
It is not completely quiet around Marco and Vanessa. The neighborhood has noticed that there has been unrest for a while. The two Hilversummers have been bullied for some time. Why no one knows and that is unclear to this day. Yet their house is regularly pelted with eggs and stones. The two also find a rat in front of their door.
Fatal fire
The harassment from before is dwarfed by what happens in the early morning of Friday 28 May.
When Marco and Vanessa are still sleeping peacefully, a young boy walks through the front garden without anyone noticing. Gasoline is poured through the letterbox and lit. The flames then spread rapidly. Marco and Vanessa are trapped like rats and have nowhere to go.
The fire brigade sounds a big alarm about the fire. Every effort is made to extinguish the fire. Marco and Vanessa are taken from the house and resuscitated on the street. They are rushed to the hospital, but in vain. Quick help is of no avail.
Mixed reactions
The neighborhood reacts mixed the morning after the fire. On the one hand, people are shocked. “Terribly shocked, we are all shivering,” said a neighbor across the street.
Yet the fire does not come as a surprise, because the neighborhood knows about the harassment. A single local resident says that there was often something to do around the couple. It is said that Marco and Vanessa have not always been nice either.
Text continues below the video.
Arson Hilversum does not come out of the blue – NH News
The fire quickly causes the necessary speculation. When it later becomes known that the fire was set deliberately and may have to do with the many harassments, it is a shock, but does not come as a surprise.
“It hits very hard that people are capable of something like that,” says Sanne. She lives opposite Marco and Vanessa’s house. “I can’t imagine how you come to such an action. It is very shocking and really terrible for those people.”
Deliberate action
The detective also quickly follows the trail that the fire is a deliberate action. People know about the harassment and the recently repaired bedroom window cannot escape the police. In addition, there is a large security camera on the facade of the house.
Yet it takes a long time before suspects can be apprehended. Only more than a month later, a suspect is caught: a 17-year-old Hilversum summer. A week later, a second Hilversummer is also arrested, followed by a third suspect three months later.
The detectives tracked down the three boys on the basis of the images made by the security camera at the house of Marco and Vanessa. The images show how one of the suspects sets the fire, with all the consequences that entails.
A joke’
When the three suspects come to court for the first time that autumn, it becomes increasingly clear what exactly happened. “A joke that got out of hand,” the suspects say themselves.
After a long investigation, the police label the youngest suspect, 17-year-old AK, as the main suspect. The young Hilversummer is suspected of starting the fire. The two years older S. Al H. would have helped by buying gasoline and lending his debit card for it. The third suspect, W. El B., is said to have dropped off the main suspect in front of Marco and Vanessa’s house.
“I never knew this was going to happen. I feel used. If I knew this was going to happen, I never would have done it”
Al H. in particular goes through the dust in court. “I never knew this was going to happen. I feel used,” he says, crying. “If I had known this was going to happen, I never would have done it,” he says of lending out his debit card and getting the gas. He acknowledges that he is on the images, but says he has nothing to do with the arson.
Al H. does not seem to have been in contact with the law before. This does not apply to co-suspect El B. De Hilversummer, the eldest of the couple, is said to have been involved in a similar arson attack before.
Multiple leads, but prime suspect denies
Things look a lot more serious for main suspect AK. The detective has video footage of him and found DNA traces of him at Marco and Vanessa’s house. He is also not of impeccable behavior: a year before the fire, he would have been involved in a violent street robbery, in which he would have threatened the victim.
The young Hilversummer completely denies having anything to do with the fire. Due to his young age, his trial takes place behind closed doors.
Although the judiciary is still protesting against it, K. is released from pre-trial detention that spring. A year later he was imprisoned again because he had not complied with the strict conditions of his release.
Lawsuit starts
The trial against the three Hilversum suspects starts tomorrow. Then the minor suspect will be brought before the court. Again, this happens behind closed doors. The next two days, the other two Hilversummers also occur.
All three suspects will hear their sentence this week.