How something trivial can have huge consequences. This became apparent on Thursday in the court of Dordrecht, where 20-year-old Melvin T. from Vlaardingen heard a seven-year prison sentence for manslaughter on Mushuraldo on September 30, 2020. The reason: Melvin T.’s refusal to return a Playstation controller. which he had borrowed from another friend six months earlier. “I was allowed to keep it,” said Melvin T. That friend called him a liar. That really pissed Melvin T. off.
Three friends
Mushuraldo de la Fuente wanted to resolve the disagreement. He arranged a meeting with Melvin T. in the Lidl parking lot on the Laan van Nieuw Blankenburg in Rozenburg. It got completely out of hand.
Mushuraldo turned out to have brought three friends with him. On surveillance camera footage, it doesn’t look like the group only had a good conversation in mind. They ran towards Melvin T.’s car. He drove around the parking lot and seemed to deliberately drive into the group. The footage shows how they have to jump sideways to avoid being hit.
Rather than avoid a confrontation, Melvin T. got out. In his own words, to prevent Mushuraldo from smearing his – borrowed – car with paint. According to the prosecutor, both boys came to the meeting with a knife, despite Melvin T.’s claim that he did not have a knife with him.
The officer made no effort to hide his irritation at the “about nothing” arguing and the tendency among young people to fight conflicts with knives rather than words. “What possessed a 17-year-old boy with a baby on the way to get involved in an argument with which he had nothing to do while he himself was still on probation?” Staring sternly toward the public gallery, the officer also denounced the victim’s friends, who tricked the police “with whole lies and half-truths.”
‘Heart is broken into hundreds of pieces’
Melvin T. claims that Mushuraldo was carrying two knives, one of which he got hold of. He was hit in the shoulder himself, and Mushuraldo twice in the left side. The stab wounds perforated an artery, his liver and his stomach. The boy ran away, but collapsed near a tree further on. He died on the spot.
Melvin T. ran off. He was arrested a few days later at a holiday park near Oostvoorne. The knife with which he inflicted the fatal stabs is still missing to this day.
In court, Mushuraldo de la Fuente’s relatives and girlfriend Levi addressed the suspect bitterly. Levi was pregnant. “That must be the best thing that happens to you. But you took even that from us.” She told the court how her “heart is broken into hundreds of pieces” and how her boyfriend will never again have the chance to show that he is a good father. Meanwhile, she looked the crying Melvin T. straight in the eye. He dabbed his eyes with a tissue, and sobbed his regret. “I would turn it back if I could.” August 11 ruling.