According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), a 36-year-old man from De Kiel and a 44-year-old man from Coevorden were guilty of gross extortion in a home on Eikenlaan in Veenoord in August of last year.
The Public Prosecution Service wants the Coevorde resident to receive a prison sentence of 2.5 years, of which one and a half years will be conditional. The man from De Kiel faces a prison sentence of two years, of which one and a half years is conditional. Both men were after the victim’s gold chain, the prosecutor said. The victim was a guest in the house in Veenoord.
He was there to buy speed, he later told police. The two suspects were also in the house. The victim knew the youngest, he had not seen the oldest before. Suddenly the suspects allegedly attacked him. The eldest pointed a gun at him. “Come on Gerrit, just cooperate, then nothing will happen to you. It’s not a toy gun,” the man from De Kiel allegedly shouted and punched the man in the mouth. The victim was forced to hand over his necklace.
He saw a moment to flee his attackers, the complainant told the judge today. He thought he was in agony. He ran out of the house and jumped over a meter-high fence. He broke his leg in several places. The youngest suspect was arrested shortly after the robbery, the man from Coevorden came into the picture shortly afterwards. Both men only acknowledged that they had been in the home. There were camera images of their presence in the home.
The public prosecutor attaches more credence to the complainant’s story. He was still withdrawing money shortly before the extortion. In the camera images the man was visibly wearing the gold chain. The chain was gone when the officers found the man injured in the garden. In addition to the broken bones, he also had shattered teeth in his mouth. The injury fits the complainant’s story, the prosecutor said. Both suspects strongly deny the violent extortion. They happened to be in the house.
The prosecutor finds it strange that both suspects reset their phones shortly after the incident. Shortly after the extortion, another phone belonging to the Coevorde resident was searched for gold prices. “The chain has been sold,” the prosecutor said. The prosecutor calls the statements that the suspects gave gradually as unbelievable. The man from De Kiel was also charged with assault and theft in a home in Emmer-Compascuum.
The resident was allegedly beaten and robbed of tools and radio equipment at the end of January last year. The man acknowledges this, but he cannot remember anything: “I was on drugs.” Both men have a criminal record. The eldest underwent a two-year treatment program for repeat offenders within the prison in 2020. “These are serious offenses that warrant a long prison sentence,” the prosecutor said. Yet he opts for treatment for both men.
The youngest suspect can be admitted to hospital on February 5. “Society benefits more from assistance. Both say they are open to this,” he said. He believes that the compensation of more than 12,600 euros is allowable. Both lawyers saw insufficient evidence for a conviction and argued for acquittal. “A Wild West story, completely implausible and incomprehensible,” said the lawyer for the Coevorde resident.
The court will make its ruling in two weeks.