The man who was overpowered in February by customers of restaurant-café De Buffel in Best, also raided cafeteria De Smickel in the village a few days earlier. He also planned to rob another catering business in Best during the same period. This is what the public prosecutor put before the court in Den Bosch on Thursday afternoon.
In all cases, the 38-year-old man from Best was, according to the judiciary, to make money. He was sentenced to five years in prison. According to justice, he would also have been in possession of two weapons and ammunition.
“I’ll Shoot You”
On the evening of February 10, around a quarter past eleven, the man entered De Buffel, on the Dorpsplein in Best. He was dressed all in black and wore a balaclava and a hood. Among other things, the robber threatened the bartender with two weapons and demanded money from the cash register. He also aimed his gun at one of the guests and shouted: “Stay there, keep your distance, I’ll shoot you.”
No shots were fired, although it was unclear at the time whether these were real weapons or fakes.
There were dozens of people in the case. Despite the shock, a number of guests managed to overpower the man with a brave performance. That happened after the man put the money he had received in a shoulder bag and wanted to leave the business. The customers managed to detain the perpetrator until the police arrived. One of the guests was bitten by the robber.
Victim support has been called in for those involved, guests and staff. “Because such a robbery makes a big impression,” explained a police spokeswoman. Almost four months later, employees prefer not to be reminded of it.
Employee threatened
Earlier that week there was also a robbery in Best, then at snack bar De Smickel, on the Oirschotseweg. Here, too, an employee was threatened by a man in black who had covered his face. The unwanted guest made off with an unknown amount of money, which he had put in a shoulder bag.
Furthermore, according to the judiciary, the man tried to rob Craft Food and Beverage on the Hoofdstraat in the same period. Here he failed to enter this restaurant. The suspect was also armed in this attempt.
The weapons he had set out with were an air pistol and a so-called BB gun. The latter is a fake weapon that cannot be distinguished from the real thing.
‘Two years in prison is enough’
Bart van de Grint, the lawyer of the man from Best, does not think the demand is excessive from the point of view of the judiciary. But according to him, there is only evidence for the robbery of De Buffel. The same cannot be said of the other two facts, according to the counsel. He thinks two years in prison are more appropriate, also because his client has an ‘almost clean criminal record’. The lawyer also proposes to have the man treated for an addiction, among other things.
There are images on Dumpert on which you can see that the robber is knocked to the ground and one of the guests takes the firearm:
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