Her words cut through the silent courtroom. ‘My dearest son lies in a grave, underground, he is dead.’
Speaking is the mother of Carlo Heuvelman, the 27-year-old victim from Waddinxveen who died in Mallorca last year as a result of a fight. In the court in Lelystad, his mother addresses the nine denying suspects. “If you are lucky enough to become a father one day, I hope you will remember my words today.”
She still has one question: ‘What did Carlo do to you that evening? He’s been kicked to death. Why? I hope I get the answer again. That you have the nerve to tell me that again.’
Three fights
The seventh session day in the criminal process that has come to be called the ‘Mallorca case’, this Thursday is dominated by the right to speak for victims and next of kin. Eight suspects from the Hilversum group of friends are present. The ninth, Lars van den H., called in sick. They are all on trial for public assault in three consecutive brawls on the Spanish island. Three of them, Sanil B., Mees T. and Hein B., are suspected of involvement in the death of Carlo Heuvelman.
‘What does it do to you’, Heuvelman’s father asks in the courtroom, ‘if the brain surgeon who operated on your son says that he only encounters these kinds of injuries in very serious car accidents? What does it do to you when you are told that your son is brain dead and you have to make a decision about whether or not to donate organs?’
Like Heuvelman’s girlfriend, his father also makes an urgent appeal to all young adults involved in this case, but also emphatically to their parents, to break the silence. Sooner or later a decent man will no doubt be in trouble of conscience; be fore that and speak out.’
Fatal Kick
For almost three weeks this criminal trial has revolved around the question: who inflicted the fatal injury on Carlo? Because of the three fights in the night of July 13 to 14, 2021 in Mallorca, there are many camera images, except for the violence against Carlo Heuvelman, who died of his injuries four days later. Witness statements are not conclusive and the suspects remember a lot, except who gave Heuvelman the fatal kick.
Five victims who received blows and kicks from the Hilversum group of friends in that fatal night have filed a report. Their statements are read by their lawyers.
“I want to get rid of those bad memories, that’s why I’m not coming to the court,” writes Tim Matulessy in his victim statement. ‘We were attacked. I tried to calm things down, but when I tried to push someone away, I was hit from the left out of nowhere. I didn’t see them coming. There was blood, a lot of blood, and it went black before my eyes. I stumbled, sat down by a tree and watched my friends get beaten up before my eyes. I saw Bram lying there, unconscious. I straightened my broken nose myself.’
Scale
Javier Goor calls the violence ‘an attack on my life. I remember well that we stood at Carlo’s bedside in the hospital, with the idea in the back of my mind: I could have just been there.’
They all miss their friend. Like Matulessy and Goor, the other victims abhor the fact that all the suspects say they do not know who kicked Carlo Heuvelman to death, while they were all involved in the fights. ‘I think they all know very well who it was’, says Timo van Kersbergen. “I hope you get a heavy sentence, that you can never look yourself in the mirror again and that the truth comes out.”
Victim Patrick van Leeuwen says that he has been left with a trauma from the violence. He was beaten and shortly afterwards found ‘my good friend Carlo, bloodied and motionless on the ground’. The days after, Van Leeuwen and his friends in Mallorca were afraid of being attacked. ‘The evening after the event we kept the windows of our house closed and we barricaded the door. With every noise from outside we were afraid that those animals were at the door.’ Out of fear of meeting the Hilversum group of friends at the airport, they took the boat to Ibiza.
anxious
After returning from the failed holiday, Van Leeuwen was too anxious to live in his own house, and he temporarily moved in with his parents. He was unable to work for a long time, had a lot of headaches and no longer dared to go to the gym or to go shopping. He is in therapy for that.
‘What should have been a great holiday turned into a nightmare on the first evening’, his lawyer reads Van Leeuwen’s victim statement. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time has never been more painful. If only we had never gone to Mallorca.’