They neither kicked nor hit: all nine Gooise suspects of the violence in Mallorca last summer deny having anything to do with the heavy violence that led to the death of Carlo Heuvelman. They haven’t even touched it, some say they haven’t even seen it.
It caused a bit of surprise for the court, because the facts are clear: Carlo Heuvelman was severely beaten last summer, received a blow and at least two hard kicks to the head when he lay defenseless on the ground. Many witnesses tell this, some of the Gooise boys are even designated. In short: someone must have done it.
The Gooi group therefore had to insist on a few stern words from one of the judges. “The fact that you remain silent ensures that Carlo’s parents, girlfriend and friends will be left with questions and grief for the rest of their lives. That must be terrible for them. And I can’t imagine that that won’t gnaw at you You’re going to be left with a secret, maybe for the rest of your lives. Put an end to it in the coming weeks. Be a man and tell what happened.”
Still a lot of question marks
What the boys do with that almost emotional appeal and whether they actually show the back of their tongue, will be revealed in the coming days. The eyes are mainly focused on Hilversummers Sanil B., Hein B. and Mees T., who have been designated as main suspects for Carlo’s manslaughter since the start of the investigation. There is no real hard evidence, but there are dozens of – sometimes contradictory – witness statements. Between the many video images of the entire evening, there is no clear picture of what happened to Carlo.
All suspects tell the court that they think it is terrible what happened that night. They say they sympathize with the relatives of Carlo, but insist that they really know nothing. The court is also surprised that they are all silent. “I am surprised that the next day, when you realized what had happened and what Carlo was in, no one hit the table with their fist to demand clarity from the group,” said the judge.
According to co-defendant Daan van S., that did not happen, because according to him ‘everyone is afraid of the truth’. If it’s not because they know what they’ve done, it’s because they’re afraid they might be responsible somewhere without knowing it.
View images of the lawsuit below. The text continues after the video.
Not kicked or beaten: Gooise suspects continue to deny involvement in Carlo’s death
The next few days
The big question is whether more will really become clear in the coming days. The trial will continue for the next two weeks.
Main suspects Hein B. and Mees T. will have to tell extensively tomorrow about what happened on the fatal night out more than a year ago. Sanil B., the third main suspect, will be heard next Friday.
The evidence against him seems the strongest. After examining the clothing of the expectant, a DNA trace was found on his left shoe, which contains the DNA of Carlo Heuvelman. The question is how that comes about. In addition, it is not yet one hundred percent certain whether that DNA actually belongs to Carlo: the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) considers this very likely, a counter study says that the DNA material does not come from Carlo Heuvelman.