1/2 Mark Gillis after the lawsuit in Den Bosch.
It was an exciting, but especially tough day for Mark Gillis. He says that when he walks out of the court in Den Bosch on Tuesday. Three men suspected of assaulting him with great violence stood trial there. Gillis didn’t sleep well last night. “I have been signed for my life, hopefully they will be punished properly,” he says.
Mark, the son of holiday park entrepreneur and TV personality Peter Gillis, was attacked in November 2021 at his chalet at the Prinsenmeer holiday park in Ommel. He was tasered, kicked and beaten by the overseer, pepper sprayed in his face. The robbers took valuables and money with them.
The three suspects stood trial on Tuesday. Two of them, a 41-year-old man from Den Bosch and a 43-year-old man from Rosmalen, were present in court. “I had seen one of those suspects before at a pro forma hearing. Then I was really shaking, but I’m used to it now,” says Mark. “There was a lot of police today, so nothing could happen.”
“I got through it.”
The reality star used his right to speak in court. “I found that really exciting,” he says afterwards. “I was not really comfortable. To tell a story where the emotions are quite high, and that against the people who did something like this to you, that was not easy. But I did it anyway, I got through it. After that, a weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
In his victim impact statement, Mark said that the robbery was a nightmare for him. He described how the suspects overpowered him and dragged him inside. Mark even thought for a moment that he wouldn’t survive. Now, almost two years later, he is still struggling. Every night Mark is afraid, he read aloud. “I have something that has bothered me all my life,” says Mark after the lawsuit.
“I don’t believe anything they come up with.”
Two suspects deny being involved in the robbery. The third suspect admits that he was there that night in question, but states that he came to discuss a ‘business conflict’. “I don’t know how he got there. Then you don’t come with pepper spray to knock me to the ground and abuse me for half an hour. It was just a pure robbery. I don’t believe anything they come up with,” responds Mark.
The public prosecutor demanded six years in prison for all three suspects on Tuesday. “I have 100 percent confidence that they will be convicted,” says Mark. “Anyway, they will be in prison for six years and I will be scarred for life. That cannot be compared to each other.”
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