A fundraising campaign for the funeral of Hoofddorper Steve Mahakena is going strong. The tattoo artist with a shop in a shop in the Vennep shopping center De Symfonie was found dead ‘under suspicious circumstances’ in a house on the Egholm last Tuesday.
Friend and family spokesperson Kelly Hagedooren says Steve’s body has not yet been released, meaning his funeral cannot be planned yet. Because he had no funeral insurance, Kelly and her husband Peter a fundraiser started to pay for his funeral.
That Steve was loved is evident from the standings: within a day and a half, about 300 people have donated almost 10,000 euros. “Fantastic”, says Hagedooren to NH News. However, that is not expected to be enough to accommodate all interested parties. “We think 3,000 people want to come, so more is needed.”
If there is money left after the funeral, it will also be well spent, Kelly promises. “Steve has two children, they may also want to go to college.”
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Meanwhile, the police investigation continues at full speed. Although the mobile police unit that had been standing in front of the complex since Tuesday was removed this morning, that does not mean that the investigation at the Egholm has come to an end. “That unit is temporarily gone,” a police spokesman told NH Nieuws. “The investigation is still ongoing.”
That investigation was started after a man entered the flat ‘under suspicious circumstances’ on Tuesday morning was found. Help came too late, because an attempt to resuscitate him was of no avail. On Wednesday it turned out to be tattoo artist Steve Mahakena, who ran tattoo shops in Nieuw-Vennep and Amsterdam.
The police do not yet want to say anything about the suspicious circumstances under which Steve was found. It has been announced that Steve did not live at the address in question, and that the resident of the address is not suspected, but has only been heard as a witness.