Robbed and run over Ans (77) still died: ‘We still had beautiful moments with her’ | Domestic

The woman was robbed of her handbag and house keys last August in the Hague shopping center where she regularly visited. But she didn’t leave it at that. The woman from The Hague left her walker and went after the thief from Poortugaal, shouting and gesticulating. She tried to stop the man with a bystander.

When she was standing in front of his vehicle, she was hit by the car. She fell to the ground with a thud. The suspect then drove the vehicle over her legs. She suffered a broken wrist and serious injuries to her legs.

The following months were emotionally difficult, she told this site. “I still cry about it at night. But no one needs to know that. I do not want that. And I can hide it well. My family knows what I am like, but I don’t need to make this public. I don’t want to be pathetic and I’m not. My husband’s death a few years ago was much worse.”

The brave lady seemed to slowly recover. The fear that she would never walk again turned out to be unfounded. But to her disappointment, she would never be able to live on her own again. While she was recovering from her serious injuries, her house was even broken into. Shortly before her death, she moved to a permanent care facility. Her family gave her new furniture. Painters and employees also took care of the woman and renovated her room.

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In recent days, the seventy-year-old suffered from breathing problems that she was unable to overcome due to her ‘weak psychological and physical condition’ after the collision. “To our sadness and the disappointment of the treating doctors, recovery was no longer possible. As a family, we have been with her continuously since yesterday afternoon and we have had wonderful moments with her,” says her son-in-law.

At the end of November, just after the first preparatory hearing in court, her daughter Désirée van den Bos already indicated that her mother was not doing well. “She is still quite shaken. Also very anxious, we are very sad about that. We had hoped that her physical condition would improve and that she would be able to walk around happily again after a month. We may have underestimated that a bit.”

According to the Public Prosecution Service, Hamse D. is responsible for Ans’ suffering. He is suspected of first breaking into a house to steal car keys. He thus stole a car, stole Ans’ handbag and drove over her with the stolen vehicle. He then left the scene of the accident without rendering assistance.

The suspect ignored that preparatory hearing. He said through his lawyer Arjéh Baumgarten that he ‘never wanted’ the collision. “The client did not see the lady when he drove away in the car. He thinks it’s terrible what happened. It may sound strange, but he is happy that she can tell the story. For the same money it would have been worse.“That has now happened after all.

The suspect previously sped through The Hague at high speed. In 2019, he fled from police when he tried to sell an Audi he had previously stolen. He hit several vehicles and narrowly missed a passing cyclist. Even then he drove without a (valid) driver’s license. For those offences, two home burglaries, three attempted burglaries and another car theft, he was sentenced to thirty months in prison.