1/3 Photo: Harrie Grayleel/SQ Vision
Ilco S. (21) from Helmond has to go to jail for seven years for the death of his friend Dustin (16). The court in Den Bosch ruled on Monday. According to the court last year, in the night of 7 to 8 May, Ilco stabbed Dustin twice with a large chef’s knife during a fight. The 16-year-old boy died the next morning.
Again the courtroom in Den Bosch was filled with Dustin family and friends. After the requirement of 9 years in prison, they were curious what the court would judge. It was a few years less and that is, according to the court, because Ilco is still young, he never wanted Dustin’s death and also because he is still childish and has the thinking level of a 16 to 18-year-old with a below average IQ.
Ilco and Dustin met that night in the center of Helmond. “I had worked as a cook in Eindhoven and went to the Watermolenwal by midnight to pick up a girl. He sat there with Dustin and his girlfriend,” Ilco said during the session. “When I arrived with a friend of mine, I heard Dustin screaming against the girls. Cancer this and cancer that. I said he had to stop with that, walked towards him and said he had to respect women. But he hit me a few times.”
Then things escalated. Witnesses heard Dustin shout that he was ‘crazy’ if Ilco would remain standing in front of him. Then blows were handed out by Dustin and they stabbed back and forth. Dustin stuck Ilco twice with a screwdriver and Ilco stuck Dustin twice with his 28 centimeters chef’s knife. Ilco had two wounds on his body of the screwdriver, but Dustin was stabbed deeply in his side and under his armpit. He died hours later from his injuries.
After Dustin had fallen out of consciousness and bleed violently, Ilco started to help him again. He couldn’t leave his friend there, he thought. With his sweater he closed the stab wound until the emergency services took over. In the meantime, he had the operator of 112 on the line, because Dustin’s girlfriend was no longer able to do that because of the shock.
Opinions varied about who was first stuck. But the court is clear in that: Ilco was involved in a fight of the others. He shouldn’t have done that. Ilco was the first to pull his big chef’s knife, to which Dustin took a screwdriver as an answer. But he had no chance against the chef’s knife.
The appeal to bad weather by Ilco’s lawyer was rejected. The court sees Ilco as the aggressor who confronted several times. At one point the fight seemed to end. Both young men stood apart. And then Ilco pulled his knife and Dustin stabbed twice. He then helped with the resuscitation, but Dustin died in the hospital the next morning.
The court follows the statements of the witnesses. Ilco went to get the knife out of his car and kept it behind his back while he was raised. The girls shouted that Dustin had to drop the knife, but he didn’t. Then Dustin saw the knife, he said, “Are you going to stab me?”
According to the court, Ilco was difficult to deal with the situation. The girl’s fight with Dustin skipped him and he had never experienced that before. According to the court, Ilco never wanted Dustin and sincerely repented during the hearing.
The death of the 16-year-old Dustin caused a huge shock in Helmond. The same evening many people were present at a quiet trip to the library on the Watermolenwal where the stabbing took place. On June 1, Dustin was also commemorated during a Ride out With dozens of engines and fireworks.
In addition to the prison sentence of seven years, Ilco also has to pay a ton of compensation to the parents, stepparents and sister of Dustin.
Waiting for privacy settings …