A 24-year-old man from Meppel has been acquitted of attempted murder of a housemate. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the man stabbed the other in the face with a knife in the early morning of April 15. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, of which 10 months were suspended.
The housemate is said to have invaded the Meppeler’s room after an argument about a tracksuit. He in turn grabbed a knife and stabbed, according to the Public Prosecution Service. The victim had cuts. According to the judge, this shows that the 24-year-old did not make stabbing, but cutting movements with the knife.
According to the judge, a stabbing movement is a movement with the tip of the knife towards the other. The cutting is an arbitrary horizontal or vertical movement with the blade. According to the judge, the injury suffered by the housemate was defensive injury. According to the judge, what the Public Prosecution Service has charged cannot be proven.
The judge does find that the Meppeler is guilty of theft of a telephone. In this case, the judge finds it sufficient to declare the man guilty on its own, without imposing any further punishment on him. De Meppeler will be released immediately.