Two men go free for blackmailing a resident of Oudenbosch. A third must go to jail, the court in Breda determined. The case may be related to a conflict in the underworld and a series of attacks in Breda. But nobody wants to say anything about that. And so many questions remain.
The suspects come from the Utrecht region. It concerns Bryan Z. (38) Revi V. (36) and Giovanni B. (38) They would have driven to a house in Oudenbosch in February last year. The brother of a Breda businessman lives there. The three gave the Oudenbosschenaar a mobile phone.
‘Not dead yet’
Text messages appeared in the device such as ‘have you spoken to your brother yet?’. Shortly after, another:Okay, listen, I suggest you talk to him, he’s sick not dead yet’. The victim from Oudenbosch filed a report that same day.
Officers took over the cell phone and pretended to be the victim. More posts followed such as: “Listen, those papers have to come…” Within 24 hours, the message was. In the criminal environment, the word ‘paper’ often refers to banknotes, ie money. Also mentioned was the word ‘Singapore’ and a series of numbers. What that meant has never been made clear. And then there was a text message about any ‘consequences’.
Crime organization
During the trial it was already clear to the public prosecutor that there was no evidence that the suspects were members of a criminal organization. There was also insufficient evidence for the extortion attempt in one of the three cases. Therefore, in his case, a total acquittal was requested.
The Public Prosecution Service demanded prison sentences of up to one and a half years against the two others for the extortion attempt. Their lawyers asked for an acquittal. The court ruled that there is not enough evidence against two men. They were indeed in Oudenbosch, but they did not use violence and did not threaten it.
The third man Revi V. was found guilty. He was jailed for ten months. According to the judges, there was enough evidence that he appeared threatening and tried to extort money from the victim via the blackmail telephone. In addition, he was still on probation for a sentence from 2019. He must still serve that five-month extra sentence for possession of firearms. The man has a long criminal record for drug and violence cases.
Hand grenades
The police have always seen a greater connection behind this suspicious visit to Oudenbosch. From the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021, Breda was plagued by a series of attacks with hand grenades and other types of explosives. For example, a tire shop and sandwich shop were targeted. The same family was always the victim. A businessman, a brother of the Oudenbosschenaar, was shot at in front of his door. The shooter in that case got seven years.
It has often been suggested that there was or is still a conflict in the background in the crime organization of Piet Costa from Rotterdam, the man behind the torture chamber in Wouwse Plantage. But little was said about this during the court cases. Everyone seems silent.
The court described it as follows: “It is not clear to the court what the cause of the events was now that (..) and those around him have not shown the back of their tongue about this and the Defendant has not made any statements about this either. ”
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