Seven years in prison for Sanil B. and prison sentences of thirty and eighteen months for several other suspects. That was the verdict of the judge today in the Mallorca case. Too high, too low or completely justified? NH News took to the streets to gauge reactions from Hilversum residents.
“A justified punishment”, said Olivier Schouder (16). He is with a group of friends on the Groest, a well-known nightlife street in Hilversum. “They have robbed someone of life, he will never come back. The family has to live with that, so I think this punishment is appropriate.”
Passer-by Wim Meter disagrees. “Seven years in prison is way too low. Trust me, it will pass and you’ll be an old man,” Meter said. “They should have given the whole group a heavy punishment, then they would have spoken up,” he thinks.
Main suspect Sanil B. was sentenced today to seven years in prison for nightlife violence in Mallorca in the summer of 2021. Carlo Heuvelman was killed as a result. The judge imposed sentences of 30, 18 and 12 months on a few other suspects, the time in pre-trial detention deducts from that for everyone. Martijn T. was acquitted and one suspect was sentenced to community service.
The convicts come from (near) Hilversum. Bas Berends (16) says it lives in his group of friends. “We know them through the grapevine, so we talked about it a lot this year,” says Bas. “Some of them I know by name, so it keeps you busy,” adds Lieve Ybema (17).
Cell not the solution
Anneke Thijssen understands that this punishment has been imposed, but wonders whether that will help. “Those guys have a problem, but I don’t know if a time in prison will make it better. Maybe therapy is a better option,” says Thijssen.
Those interviewed on the street still find it incomprehensible that the nightlife violence in Mallorca had such a fatal outcome. “Terrible. You don’t kick someone to death, do you? He was already on the ground and then give another kick, that’s really not possible,” said Lieve. “It must be your child,” adds Wim Meter. “He goes on vacation and comes back in a coffin, that’s terrible.”