Adrien van S. was sentenced to two years in prison and TBS because he deliberately caused a gas explosion last August in his apartment in Lepelstraat. The court in Breda has determined this.
The 67-year-old man was seriously injured by the explosion. Another occupant of the apartment complex on the Vossepad was at home, but remained unharmed.
‘Explosive mixture’
The judge’s decision explains how Van S. went: “He (among other things) opened the gas tap, disconnected the gas hose of the stove and opened the gas rings, so that an explosive mixture of gas and oxygen was created. Then he founded a few fires, including in the immediate vicinity of the open gas snake.”
In the meantime, he had locked the kitchen door and sat down on a chair opposite the kitchen unit. Because of the blow that followed, he ran into 40 percent of his body burns. Two weeks ago, when the case was dealt with in terms of content, it was clear that it was not yet recovered. He difficultly walked into the courtroom.
Due to the pressure wave of the explosion, walls, windows and frames from his apartment were printed out. Nothing was left of the house. These and the three other apartments had to be renovated. As a result, a number of residents were forced to stay temporarily somewhere else.
Resolute performance
It may be a miracle that Van S. survived his self -caused explosion. He may owe it to the resolute performance of two local residents. These two former firefighters were spoiled to the apartment complex after the explosion. They closed the gas tap and managed to extinguish multiple fireplaces with her own fire extinguisher.
Why Van S. has come to his deed remains unclear. The court did not doubt intent: in the days before the explosion he had informed his girlfriend Maria that he would drive his scooter on a car and that it would have happened with him. A day before the explosion, the police came across him while he drove into the traffic with a scooter on a roundabout.
People from his surroundings already saw the shower hanging: Van S. would not have seen life sitting anymore after he was scammed by Mary. The court assumes that the man wanted to put an end to his life.
‘Nothing wrong’
Van S. did not want to tell what brought him for this. He denied everything or said he didn’t know all. According to him, there was nothing wrong. He did not take his responsibility with that and the court blames him. The judge also found that the man, seen all kinds of disorders he has, must be treated intensively.
The public prosecutor had demanded three years and TBS. The lawyer advocated TBS and a conditional prison sentence that was the same as the custody. Among other things, he pointed to the blank criminal record of Van S. and the fact that his client was seriously injured.
Talking about thoughts to suicide helps and is possible, for example, via the national helpline 113: or 0900-0113.
Local residents told Omroep Brabant their story:
