32-year-old Robin M. from Eindhoven has to go to jail for six months and receives 240 hours of community service. The court in Den Bosch ruled this on Tuesday. The man stabbed two men last December after a night out at Stratumseind in Eindhoven. The young men were seriously injured.
During the hearing two weeks ago, 32-year-old Robin M. maintained that the men had attacked him with a group and that he was not the perpetrator. But the court ruled that Robin M. did stab him, but that he did not intend to kill anyone.
The court finds it not attempted manslaughter, but serious assault. The public prosecutor demanded another five years two weeks ago.
The two men were stabbed after an argument broke out at Stratumseind over 50 euros. That money was snatched from Robin’s hand when he was talking to the bouncer of a café. When he went to seek redress from that unknown young man, he soon found himself confronted by a whole group.
Friends of the money thief got involved and the atmosphere became increasingly grim. Robin got scared and wanted to run away, he said. He was caught up again by the group at Catharinaplein. CCTV footage in the courtroom showed 8 or 9 people gathering around Robin, who literally stood with his back against the wall.
According to Robin, he received a heavy blow on the chin and saw stars. Ultimately, he received more blows from men from the group and was injured in his ear, cheekbone, jaw, lip and nose and bled profusely.
Somewhere he took out his pocket knife, Robin explained, to threaten and keep the group away. The group scattered and one of them managed to kick him down. Robin’s friend finally picked him up and took him to the car.
Robin said he did not know how the two young men in their early twenties had suffered such serious stab wounds, but the public prosecutor did have an idea during the hearing. According to her, Robin actually went after one of the men in the group with the knife in his hand. A friend of the man being chased managed to kick Robin down and thus rescue his friend.
And then things went wrong: Robin stabbed the man who knocked him down in the side and also stabbed a friend who came to help in the buttock. And with force, because the two men were seriously injured.
M. receives less punishment than a year in prison, which is common for serious assault according to the court. Research shows that he is less accountable. According to a psychologist, there is a psychotrauma or stress-related disorder. He will therefore receive six months in prison and another six months on probation if he commits another crime. In addition, he must perform a maximum community service of 240 hours.