The case is “in a sense” also about you, says the police judge to the woman who walks into the courtroom in Almere. She nods, is silent, and sits in the public gallery in the otherwise empty hall. She crosses her legs.
She is the girlfriend of the suspect, Errol (44). “It’s about kicking and pushing,” the judge tells him. Errol – gray jeans with fabricated chlorine stains and a black shirt with thin white stripes – slides forward in his seat but says nothing. He is suspected of assaulting his girlfriend. Errol would have pushed and kicked her, she would have fallen and bruised or broken her wrists.
“It was a fine day before that,” the judge said. “With a barbecue and full of family.” But later, at the pool, things went wrong. Errol and his girlfriend got into an argument over his daughter’s sleeping place. At least, that is the direct reason, says the judge, “maybe that there was more going on in the background”. His girlfriend told the police that Errol “as it were” put her against the edge of the pool and pushed her back. There are no camera images, but the police have seen water splashes along the pool.
“We had a big fight,” Errol says cautiously to the judge. “With screams. If you argue, it is not so pleasant of course. It was a bad day, which I deeply regret.”
After the argument at the pool, he wants to “get away as soon as possible,” he says. He goes upstairs to get his daughter and things. “I felt it was going wrong.” His girlfriend is also upstairs, drying herself off. They face each other again. She later told the police that he kicked her there, and that she fell backwards, on her hands. He does it again in the kitchen.
“I didn’t kick her,” Errol told the judge. But the police noted that there was a “large colored spot” on her leg, the judge objected. “Any idea how it got there?” Errol: “I don’t know, I haven’t seen it.”
The judge sums up his words: “There was a fight. You pushed her twice. But you say you didn’t kick her.” It is not clear from the file whether her wrists were bruised or broken. Medical information is missing. There is, however, a letter from the girlfriend in the file. She writes that she wanted to withdraw her declaration but that it was no longer possible. And that they are ‘working together’ to form a ‘good family’, under the guidance of social workers.
“How are you doing at the moment?” the judge asks Errol.
“We are working on it. We are trying to put this behind us.” Soon they will start couples therapy together.
“If two people continue with each other,” says the prosecutor, “it is important that a judge looks at what happened.” Especially in domestic violence cases, “even if the victim thinks it is no longer necessary”. She says the stories about the evening “diverge”, but considers the kicking and pushing proven. She demands sixty hours of community service, of which thirty are conditional, “as a big stick”.
It is “not clear” to the judge whether the bruise is a “direct result” of kicks. He condemns Errol for simple assault. And because it concerns domestic violence, “we end up in the sphere of community service,” he says. “But given the letter from Mrs. I don’t think it does much to make you work.” Errol will receive 20 hours of community service, fully probation, with a probationary period of two years. Under special conditions, he is required to report and must undergo treatment – that was also what the probation service advised.
“Sometimes I think that a declarant is put under pressure to withdraw a report,” the judge said. “But I don’t have that idea here.”
He also understands, says Errol with relief after the verdict, “that the case was continued”.