Six teens, dad jailed for Dutch linesman killing

LELYSTAD, Netherlands: A Dutch court yesterday jailed six teenage boys and a father for up to six years for brutally beating to death an amateur linesman in a case that shocked the football-mad nation.
“The seven suspects are guilty of beating the linesman’s head and upper body,” judge Anja van Holten said of the killing of Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, last December.
Nieuwenhuizen died following an attack by enraged youth players after officiating in a match near Amsterdam in which one of his sons was playing.
A total of seven young suspects, aged 15 to 17 at the time, and the 51-year-old adult were charged with manslaughter, public violence and brutality.
“The court decides that none of the suspects had the intention of killing the linesman,” the judge said.
The only adult, also the father of one of the accused, Hasan D., was jailed for six years, while five teens were sent to youth detention units for the maximum of two years, six months suspended.
A sixth adolescent convict, aged 15, was sent to a youth detention unit for a year with two months suspended. The seventh teen, also 15, was acquitted of the killing but convicted of hitting the rival team’s goalkeeper.
“We’re happy with the high sentences, because the worst thing for me is that they never admitted what they did,” his widow Xandra Nieuwenhuizen told journalists outside the court, arm in arm with her three sons.
“This verdict gives us some kind of closure,” she said on the verge of tears.
“Enough of violence in football, enough of violence in Dutch football,” said his son Mykel Nieuwenhuizen, 16, who witnessed the deadly assault on his father.
The eighth defendant was acquitted of the killing but ordered detained for 30 days, 17 of them suspended, because “he only hit the opposing side’s goalkeeper,” the court ruling said.
“The conclusion is that the violence the suspects committed is the reason for Nieuwenhuizen’s death,” the judge said after an expert had said the death could be blamed on a genetic anomaly.
Prosecution spokeswoman Susanne Terporten said she was “fairly satisfied” with the sentences.
“The fact that they never confessed is hard for the family, because it means that they will never know exactly what happened,” she said.
“It looked like they were kicking a ball,” the judge quoted a witness as saying as she read out the verdict.
“This incident has shocked the footballing world, beyond our borders.” Nieuwenhuizen’s death led to much soul-searching in the Netherlands, where 1.2 million people out of a population of 16.5 million are members of the national football federation KNVB.
The court heard testimony in May and June including allegations that members of the opposing team told them to “come and fight.” Hassan D. said he had only tried to keep players apart, as the court was shown photographs of the brawl taken by spectators.
But Van Holten said: “Instead of setting an example by speaking to the youngsters about their behavior, he participated in kicking and beating the linesman.” Nieuwenhuizen’s DNA was found on the football boot of one of the young suspects.
Lawyers for some of the seven said they would appeal the sentences.
“The problem is that they took a couple of witnesses and based the judgment on them,” lawyer Marielle van Essen told AFP.
“This (the judgment) is way too easy, they were under pressure and wanted to make an example, but you have to look at individual cases,” said fellow lawyer Geert-Iem Roos.
Those convicted are all connected to, or are members of, the Nieuw Sloten football club, which was playing against Nieuwenhuizen’s Buitenboys Club in Almere, just east of Amsterdam, when the attack occurred.
Nieuwenhuizen officiated as a linesman in the under-17 match and was set upon immediately afterwards by members of the Nieuw Sloten club. He was kicked several times in the head but got up and went home.
He became ill a few hours later and died the following day in hospital with his family at his side.
After his death, sign were put up around the country declaring: “Zonder respect geen voetbal” (Without respect, no football).
Teams at the Club World Cup in Japan last year held a moment of silence in Nieuwenhuizen’s memory before the tournament kicked off.