Younes S. (21), who is suspected of a failed robbery on René van der Gijp, invokes his right to remain silent during the case against him. The Rotterdammer refused to answer questions from the court on Wednesday whether he hit the armored car windows of the football analyst with a large hammer.
Van der Gijp was attacked on April 27, 2020 by three men in white masks when he returned home in Dordrecht after a television broadcast. They slammed the car windows on both sides of his car with hammers, but eventually fled with no loot. Van der Gijp suspects that the perpetrators were after his Rolex watch. He stated that he had not been threatened by the police.
The suspicion against S. is based, among other things, on telecom data. According to the judiciary, on the evening of the crime, his telephone was beamed on a transmission tower near Dordrecht, along with a telephone belonging to a man who has already been convicted of complicity. He was sentenced to one year in prison in 2020, of which three months were suspended. He was the driver of the robbers. When asked why S.’s telephone made the same travel movements around Dordrecht and Ridderkerk, the court received no answer from the silent S. who, after more than eight months in pre-trial detention, has found a full-time job as a warehouse employee.
Criminal record
Together with S., Said O. (33) from Rotterdam was also on trial on Wednesday. He is suspected of the armed robbery of Nikkie de Jager and her boyfriend in August 2020. He is also silent in all languages. He did not answer the question why on the day of the robbery in Uden his telephone followed the same route as that of co-defendant Hamza T. About 25 minutes after the robbery, O.’s telephone also radiated a transmission tower in Valburg, which, according to the police. fits the timeline. O. has a 22-page criminal record. He has been declared an undesirable alien. He feels that is a serious obstacle, he told the judges.
Justice suspects a group of a total of seven suspects of forming a criminal organization. According to the Public Prosecution Service, this organization was involved in constantly changing composition throughout the year 2020 with committing crimes, such as theft, extortion with violence and house robberies in Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Rockanje, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Mijnsheerenland and Uden.
The sentences against the suspects will be discussed on Friday, the third day of the hearing.