The 63-year-old oliebollen baker Ad Bierens from Eindhoven was stabbed several times in the chest with a knife in Best last October. The injuries were so bad that the victim died. Lawyer Ton van den Biezenbos stated on Wednesday that the 55-year-old suspect from Best ‘cannot remember anything about the incident.’
Bierens was found seriously injured at the end of the evening on October 27 last year in front of the door of Ons Café, on the Koningin Julianaweg in Best. Resuscitation was of no avail for the man who was popular in fairground circles.
‘Headbutts and punches to the face’
According to the public prosecutor, the man of 55 took Bierens’ life on purpose. He announced this on Wednesday during a first session before the court in Den Bosch. The suspect himself was not at the hearing. According to his lawyer Van den Biezenbos, he is struggling with physical complaints that arose after the incident. The lawyer says that his client received a number of headbutts and punches to the face. Of whom, he left open. Camera images will show this, he expects.
His client was arrested a day after the fatal stabbing. Just like his 24-year-old son, who was in court. He is suspected of attempted manslaughter or aggravated assault on the stepson of Bierens (39). According to Van den Biezenbos, these two first got into a fight that night, before his client and Bierens came into conflict.
Why responsible?
Remko Oerlemans, the lawyer of the youngest suspect, did not notice until later that the 39-year-old victim had been stabbed and the question remains whether his client can be held responsible for this. Furthermore, according to the counsel, he was in a less serious condition than the judiciary suggests. Oerlemans tried to get his client released and also pointed to personal reasons. He had become a father on the day of the arrest, but he has never been able to see his daughter due to his imprisonment.
The suspect himself stated that he never wanted to stab Bierens’ stepson: “We were two hands on one stomach.” Both the public prosecutor and the court rejected the request for release. His father is also imprisoned. His case continues April 14, the one against his son on March 8.
Popular in fairground world
Ad Bierens was in charge of various oliebollen and pastry stalls and was well known in the national fair world. A day after his violent death, two minutes of silence were observed at various carnivals across the country.
Two weeks later, his son Joffrey picked up the thread again in Tilburg: “My father would have wanted it that way.” The young fairground operator also said that he wants answers to questions that have arisen after the violent death of his father. “As long as I don’t have those answers, I can’t mourn yet,” said Joffrey, who attended the hearing with his mother, among others.