According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), a 40-year-old man from Assen is one of the two men who committed a home robbery in Alteveer, near Onstwedde, at the beginning of last year. For this, the man from Assen should serve four years in prison, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
The 64-year-old resident woke up around four in the morning to a noise in his bedroom. He discovered two men at his bedside. The man in his sixties had a belt put around his neck and a towel was stuffed into his mouth. One of the men searched the house.
The intruders made off with a bucket containing 2,000 euros in coins. One of the robbers was captured on camera as he walked past a camera in the area. The man matches the description given by the resident of one of the intruders. The towel that was used contained several DNA traces.
This resulted in a match with the 40-year-old Assen resident, whose DNA is in the Dutch database. The man also looks exactly like the man on the camera image, the public prosecutor said. The man from Assen has been in pre-trial detention for more than six months.
He denies the home invasion and would never have been there, the man said. The man from Assen could not explain how his cell material ended up at the scene of the robbery. The denying suspect showed irritation towards the judges. His lawyer believes that the police investigation is inadequate and there is insufficient evidence for a conviction.
According to the lawyer, for example, no research has been done into the other DNA material on the towel. He pleaded for acquittal. In addition to the four years in prison, the man from Assen must also serve a previous suspended prison sentence of six weeks if convicted. He was still on probation for that sentence.
Justice is in the dark as to who the second robber in Alteveer was. The court will make its ruling on March 1.