Kenadid A. (34) has been sentenced to six years in prison by the Public Prosecution Service (OM). He set fire to a gas station store in May 2020 and doused an unsuspecting customer with gasoline. According to the public prosecutor, it is a miracle that it did not end worse.
The case was actually supposed to be concluded last August. But during the hearing, the defendant’s lawyer appeared to want to complete an investigation, and was the case postponed† A. already said that his action was a cry for attention. He had been trying to find shelter for three years, but the municipality of Hoorn did not keep its promises.
He walked out of town hall, crossed to the gas station, and filled a watering can with gasoline. He entered the store and is said to have yelled, “I’m setting you all on fire.”
Accidentally doused with petrol
A. himself denied that in all tones. He just wanted to be arrested. About the man who got gasoline on him, the suspect said: “He got in the way, it happened by accident. I just wanted to pour on the ground.”
The victim ran away and was able to get away with help from the gas station staff. Because, according to his own words, the police did not come quickly enough, he decided to set fire to the store, as can be clearly seen from the surveillance images.
The Public Prosecution Service accuses him of attempted murder. It’s not the only thing he has to answer for. For example, he would also have destroyed five cars with a hard object in April 2020.
A. has a long list of convictions for various crimes. At the age of thirteen he leaves for the United Kingdom. In 2009 – he is then 22 years old – he was arrested for disturbing public order. In the following three years, he was caught ten more times. Mainly because of cannabis possession.
United Kingdom expelled
In 2012, however, he ends up behind bars, and two years later he commits the same offense again. He works against a police officer, who looks for drugs from him and finds them. He is sentenced to twenty months in prison. A procedure is therefore being started to expel him from the country. In 2015, the judge ruled that A. must leave the United Kingdom and return to the Netherlands.
Prison sentence
The prosecutor demanded six years in prison. According to her, the man, who was doused with petrol, was lucky. “His clothes were soaked and there was no way out. That exit was blocked by the suspect. Fortunately, thanks to the employees of the gas station, he was able to escape through an emergency door. Otherwise, he certainly would have caught fire after lighting.”