Ten years in prison for fatal home robbery in 2016

J. is the last of the four men on trial for the horrific robbery in which 69-year-old Koert Elders was killed. Three others (two Belgians and a man from Amsterdam) were sentenced to thirteen years in prison at the time. In addition to a ten-year prison sentence, the Amsterdam resident was also the only person to be sentenced to tbs with compulsory treatment.

The court in Assen felt misled in J.’s case in 218, because the public prosecutor had deliberately put a false statement from a witness in the file. In 2019, the court in Leeuwarden ruled that the error had no consequences for the suspects and decided that the court had to make a new decision.

That is why six years after the brutal robbery on Elders and his wife, the now 30-year-old had to appear again in court in Assen. The man just didn’t show up. His lawyer does. She was not allowed and could not say where her client was staying. She was authorized to speak for him, the counsel said. The family of the victims and also Elders’ partner at the time did appear. They were deeply moved by the absence of J.

“It is a pity that he is not present. I would have liked to address him personally about the suffering he has caused. He does not even appear. How cowardly can you be,” said Elders’ partner. Both were assaulted in their sleep that night of June 30, 2016. She saw three men tying her and Elders down with electrical wire. Elsewhere, she was horribly mistreated before her eyes.

“He died inhumanely on my birthday. A brutal robbery, a murder. I now have to reap the bitter fruits of this senseless event,” the woman said in her victim statement. According to the public prosecutor, the men had deliberately traveled to Gees, because they apparently had knowledge of the safes in the house.

A large-scale police investigation was launched, in which contacts were made with teams investigating similar robberies in Nes and De Schiphorst. But that yielded no results. DNA traces on a piece of tape with which Elders was bound eventually led to the three men who have since been convicted.

Two of them confessed to the robbery. They knew the house contained safes that would hold a few tons, the rent of holiday homes managed by Elders.

The loot consisted of 5,000 euros and some jewelry. “Elsewhere has fought for what he was worth. But he was no match for these ruthless men, who put unscrupulous monetary gain above the life of another,” said the prosecutor. He pointed out that four days before the everywhere in Gees, J. was also involved in a burglary at a car company in Arnhem.

The burglars were after a safe in that building. The burglary was recorded on camera images, on which J. was also recognized. The car, rented by J. in Belgium, was flashed close to the burglary.

Cameras on Coevorderstraatweg in Geesbrug captured two cars racing past shortly before the robbery in Gees. According to the Public Prosecution Service, one of the cars is very similar to the car rented by J.. In addition, the Public Prosecution Service draws evidence from telephone data surrounding the burglary in Arnhem and the robbery in Gees. The composition of both groups appears to be almost identical, the public prosecutor said. According to the Public Prosecution Service, those telephone records also show that two cars were driven to Gees.

“There were calls to each other on the way and you don’t do that if you are in one car together. J. has always denied or invoked his right to remain silent. “But there are circumstances that cry out for an explanation,” said the prosecutor.

The Public Prosecution Service was unable to determine exactly what J.’s role was during the home robbery in Gees. He may have been on the lookout. As a co-perpetrator of so-called qualified manslaughter (killing to disguise the violent theft), the Public Prosecution Service asked for acquittal. There is no evidence that J. was there to kill Elders.

In Belgium in particular, J. has a criminal record that dates back to 2008. He has been convicted at least five times for, among other things, participation in a criminal organization and drug offences. In 2019, J. was sentenced to another fifty months in prison.

“A man who does not shy away from violence,” said the prosecutor. A bigger boy who let others take the violent chestnuts out of the fire, trying to keep himself out of harm’s way as much as possible. This is how the Public Prosecution Service thinks about J.’s role in Gees. J.’s lawyer maintained that the Public Prosecution Service did not conduct a fair trial due to irreparable formal errors and deception, even though the Court of Appeal thinks otherwise. According to her, the evidence presented by the public prosecutor is based on assumptions.

The court will rule in two weeks.