Two men aged 25 and 23 from Hoogeveen were sentenced to community service of up to 180 hours and 90 days in prison. They are accused of complicity in a range of car fires in Hoogeveen. These car fires would have been started on December 28, 2020 by 31-year-old Hoogevener Hannes W.
According to the prosecutor, the two suspects made six of the seven car fires possible and did not intervene to prevent the fires. They would have been in the car that was involved in ‘driving a round of car fires’. And they were on the lookout.
During that period, car fires regularly took place in Hoogeveen. Seven cars were set on fire that evening in December. Police arrested two men shortly afterwards. They pointed to the 31-year-old Hannes W. from Hoogeveen. Initially, the two partially confessed their involvement, but today they came back to their previous statements in court.
The first fire
The two suspects had agreed with W. to have a drink. W. had then said that he still had to go to the Piet Soerstraat. The three of them drove there. Both suspects state that they did not know what W. was planning that evening. After the first car fire in the Piet Soerstraat, it dawned on them what W. had done as a criminal offence.
Out of fear and shock, they did not dare to get out of the car after that, the men said at the hearing. Neither of them called the police. Subsequently, fires were set on cars in Lomanlaan and Vos van Steenwijklaan, among others.
The two suspects said they were paralyzed and anxious. But the prosecutor doesn’t believe that. “They both saw nothing, had great fear of suspect W., lived in a daze that night and can’t do anything about it.”
Do not intervene
According to him, the men gave W. the opportunity to start the fires by not intervening. The suspects would also have looked at some fires from the car, and got out of the car during the fire on Van Echtenstraat.
Emergency services were present at the time of the fire, but also a press photographer. He caught the two men on camera. The telephone of one of the suspects had also beamed a number of telephone masts near the car fires that evening.
Remand
The officer demanded 140 hours of community service and 90 days in prison for the oldest suspect, of which 87 days were suspended. The youngest suspect was sentenced to 180 hours of community service. Of the 90 days in prison, 88 must be conditional for him. The men have already spent two and three days in custody. If the court rules in line with the officer’s demand, they no longer have to go to jail.
The officer stated that the suspects are partly responsible for the car fires. “After the shock of the first fire, they continued in the car with W..” The car fires caused a great sense of insecurity at the time. “Some people had the fire extinguisher in front of their front door as standard, so that they could immediately start extinguishing,” said the officer.
Counsel for the youngest suspect pleaded for acquittal for her client. He would have been just a passenger. “There has been no question of helpfulness.” The oldest suspect had no lawyer standing next to him.
Attempted manslaughter
Last week, 31-year-old Hannes W. heard demands for five years in prison, including for a shooting incident in August last year in a residential area in Hoogeveen. He is said to have fired shots at his 37-year-old cousin and is therefore guilty of attempted manslaughter.
He would also be responsible for the seven car fires in Hoogeveen, an extortion and the throwing of fireworks into a letterbox.
All three cases will be pronounced on August 30.