The 27-year-old man from Heerhugowaard who stole license plates for the getaway car of the controversial art theft from the Drents Museum, says he had no idea what the plates would ultimately be used for. Today he stood before the police judge in Assen.
“It was like being in a bad movie,” he said of the aftermath of the case.
The man was instructed by 36-year-old Bernhard Z., one of the main suspects in the art theft case. Both worked for the same painting company at the time.
Two days before the violent burglary in the Drents Museum, Z. sent his younger colleague to Friesland to steal license plates from a Volkswagen.
The suspect told the judge that he used a girlfriend’s car for this purpose. It ran on diesel and was faster. “I didn’t really feel like doing that job and wanted to get it over with quickly.”
According to the man, he thought the plates were intended for one of Z.’s own cars. Still, he didn’t quite trust it. “I suspected it wasn’t pure coffee,” he said.
He was promised 200 euros for the job. “I never had that,” he added with a wry laugh.
Shortly after handing over the license plates, he saw television images of the spectacular art theft in Assen. To his horror, he learned that the getaway car was equipped with the records he had stolen.
The police later tracked him down through contact details in Bernhard Z’s phone. His ride to Witmarsum in Friesland was also recorded by several cameras. Ultimately, the man was arrested at home by an arrest team.
“I read that this made an impression on you. You had a gun pointed at your head,” the police judge said during the hearing. “Several,” the suspect replied. He had confessed almost immediately.
The man was then detained for 77 days, of which 33 days in full restriction. During that period he was only allowed to have contact with his lawyer. He had not counted on that, he said.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) first wanted to settle the case with a penalty of 40 hours of community service, without the intervention of a judge. But the suspect rejected that proposal because he wanted the judge to judge.
His lawyer today argued for a guilty verdict without punishment. According to him, his client had been “unintentionally drawn into a major robbery case” and that he had actually been punished severely enough due to the manner in which he was arrested and his pre-trial detention.
The judge did not agree. “That’s annoying for you,” she said to the suspect. “But you should have known that the stolen records would be used in a criminal act.”
The police judge ultimately sentenced him to 40 hours of community service, according to the Public Prosecution Service’s demand. The community service will be offset against the pre-trial detention, which means that the man no longer has to perform community service.
