Hoofddorp resident Ismaël El B. remains in custody for the time being on suspicion of killing his employee and good friend Steve Mahakena. El B.’s lawyer believes the evidence against his client is too weak and therefore asked the judge yesterday whether he can await the substantive hearing in freedom. He rejected that request for the second time.
In a second preparatory hearing, the judge had to determine whether El B. will remain in custody for the time being on suspicion of the murder of the Hoofddorp tattoo artist Steve Mahakena. He was found seriously injured in El B.’s home on March 7 last year. El B. himself called an ambulance after his friend had spent the night with him seriously injured, according to his version of the story. Steve is said to have initially prohibited El B. from calling the emergency services.
According to lawyer Vincent Poelmeijer, there are three facts that make it unlikely that El B. is the perpetrator: “He called 112 himself, has consistently stated consistently and had no visible injuries. You would expect that if he had used violence against Mahakena .” The Public Prosecution Service (OM) does not consider the lack of injuries to El B. to be evidence to rule out assault.
“They wanted to start a new business together. Why would he kill Steve?”
According to Poelmeijer, the scenario of the Public Prosecution Service, in which El B. allegedly fatally assaulted his friend after an argument, is illogical. “Chat contact shows that they are good friends and even wanted to start a new business together. Why would he kill Steve?”
The defense presents a completely different scenario. The police investigation would show that Steve mainly had contact with underage boys via the ‘Bullchat’ platform. A pedo hunter is said to have beaten him up that night as revenge.
“A witness stated that he was told several times that this man intended to lure Steve into a trap and wanted to pose as a 13-year-old boy,” Poelmeijer explained yesterday. Another witness would have confirmed this statement.
The Public Prosecution Service does not believe this story, because investigation shows that the deadly violence must have taken place in El B.’s home. No blood was found in the hallway or outside. According to an expert, the blood spatter in the home is also more consistent with flying blood during a fight or assault than with leaking blood from someone who has been injured.
Financially devastated
The court therefore finds the evidence against El B. strong enough to detain him. The tattoo parlor owner said yesterday that he is financially devastated because he is in prison. “I want to save what can be saved, my stores, everything I’ve built up in the last five years is all falling apart.”
Because the investigation has not yet been completed, no substantive hearing has yet been scheduled. The next preliminary hearing in the case is on March 4. The judge will then decide again whether El B. will remain in custody.