The police judge has acquitted two men (46 and 38) from Dalen and Coevorden of burglary and theft in a very remarkable place: Vliegvereniging Westerwolde in Vledderveen, just across the provincial border with Groningen.
The burglary took place in the late evening of January 21, 2019. According to the judge, the conviction is there, but the legal evidence for their involvement is lacking. Acquittal must then follow. “That is bad for the association, but that’s how the law works.”
During the break-in, engines from several aircraft were stolen, and an attempt was made to do so. The fuselages of the aircraft had been cut open and bent. The engines were screwed out of the flying machines with tools. Jerry cans were ready to pour the kerosene into. A rescue parachute, a GPS, headsets, dashboards and aircraft instruments were also stolen. The damage amounted to a ton.
At the entrance to the flying club, the gates had been cut and the doors of a hangar had been smashed with a crowbar. The stolen aircraft-ware was later found in a shed in Veenoord. The goods were quickly returned to Vledderveen. The criminal case of the owner of this barn will follow at a later time. His lawyer was unable to attend today.
The two who had to appear in front of the gate today were stopped near the flying club the night after the theft. A crowbar was found in the trunk of the car they were driving. DNA of the men was found on bags full of aircraft parts. Although according to the officer everything points to the two men, the judge did not find the evidence convincing enough. No DNA of the men was found on, for example, doors and windows of aircraft.
In addition, the telephone of the oldest suspect at the time of the burglary in Vledderveen was beaming a telephone mast between Borger and Odoorn. “It may be that you gave your phone to someone else and were on the road in Vledderveen, but there is no hard evidence for this,” the judge said. According to him, too little research had been done into traces of the crowbar on the destroyed aircraft.
The case started when a report was received by the Coast Guard in IJmuiden. There would have been a signal from an airplane. That turned out to be from a pilot who had his plane in one of the hangars in Vledderveen. The Coast Guard then called the owner of the aircraft in question. But he was just at home. “I don’t fly at all,” he had said.
Together with a flight mate, the pilot drove to Vledderveen. When they got there, they saw jerry cans in the shed and a disassembled aircraft engine. At that moment, they saw a person running away in the dark. According to members of the flying association, that must have been one of the suspects.
The members received a tip from the criminal circuit and launched a search. Thus, the warehouse in Veenoord of the third suspect in this case came into the picture. It is not yet known when his criminal case is due.
After the acquittal, the judge informed the members of the flying club that he understood their disappointment. “It’s shocking, the damage. Everything destroyed in one fell swoop. Dramatic for the flying club. Quite a bit of work has been done by those who apparently saw bread in this break-in.”
The suspects said at the hearing that they ‘just drove around in the vicinity of Stadskanaal and Onstwedde’ that evening to look for the girlfriend of one of them. They denied any involvement in the break-in.
They were sentenced to 240 hours of community service. The officer thought a prison sentence for the men was too far, because of the antiquity of the case.