According to the judge, a 21-year-old man from Assen and two men aged 19 and 23 from Delfzijl are responsible for attempted extortion and theft with violence, resulting in serious bodily injury. The three must serve a prison sentence of five years. The punishment is equal to the demand of the Public Prosecution Service (OM).
“The fact that the explosion of violence has ended is not due to the suspects. Despite his injuries, the victim had enough strength to stand up,” the judge said about the violent robbery of a metal dealer in Farmsum.
The three stood in the trader’s shop on May 2 shortly before closing time and said they wanted to hand in copper. The men were carrying a backpack that would contain their merchandise. The entrepreneur walked away from them, towards the scales, after which the 19-year-old Delfzijlster hit the entrepreneur hard in the neck. The victim fell forward.
The teenager kicked and punched the lying man and received support from his friends. The trader’s clothing was then searched, and the 23-year-old Delfzijlster took his phone. “So he wouldn’t immediately call the police. And we didn’t want to leave empty-handed either,” the man later told the police.
The man in his twenties hit the victim with a hammer and the man from Assen lifted a radiator weighing 30 kilos and threw it at the trader. After the seriously injured metal worker got up, the three fled outside. The robbery was recorded by cameras in the company.
Witnesses saw the three men running across the business park and gave a good description of the trio. The victim raised the alarm at an adjacent business, prompting the police to be called. He arrested the robbers at a gas station in Farmsum. Their backpacks contained no copper, but they did contain clothing, two knives and a brass knuckle.
The three not only attacked the victim in a ‘very rude manner’. “Such an incident also creates an unsafe feeling in society,” the judge said. The three men must receive long-term and intensive supervision after their prison sentences. The 23-year-old man from Delfzijl and the Assen resident have been declared accountable to a reduced extent.
Taking everything into account, the men should receive the same sentence, the judge believes. Compensation of almost 10,000 euros has been awarded to the victim.