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The 34-year-old Amsterdam resident, who left a trail of destruction with three stolen cars during a chase from Belgium to Amsterdam last October, will not have to go to jail again. In view of his personal circumstances, the court chose to change his unconditional prison sentence to community service. He will also be banned from driving for a year, AT5 reports.
The court said in its verdict that last October a police helicopter forced the Amsterdam native to stop and, above all, that he behaved “like a madman on the road”. On October 2, 2023, the agents were already chasing him from Belgium. He set off on foot after he was unable to continue driving the third stolen car on Ariana Nozemanstraat in Nieuw-West due to a flat tire.
His wild ride began when he stole a BMW in Belgium because he said he wanted to sell it. After being chased by Belgian police, he crossed the border into the Netherlands at high speed. He then caused multiple accidents at speeds of around 200 kilometers per hour.
Three carjackings
When he hit the guardrail on the A2 motorway and the airbag deployed, he pulled a Honda driver out of his car, hit him in the head, and drove away. Once in Amsterdam, the man destroyed the Honda. He then threatened the driver of a Mercedes with a knife and shouted, “Brother, give me the keys!” He then continued to drive the car through Amsterdam. He drove the car into a closed guardrail on the Zeilbrug, causing an accident.
Police saw him hanging halfway out of the open driver’s window of the Mercedes, holding a knife in his left hand and making stabbing motions. According to police, the man exuded “complete madness”. After crashing the Mercedes in Nieuw-West, he fled on foot. He eventually reported the incident to police a day later.
Conditional imprisonment
The court sentenced the man to 540 days in jail, 432 of which were conditional, suspended for two years, and to perform 240 hours of community service. The man does not have to go back to jail, as the unconditional sentence is equivalent to his pretrial detention. Considering that the man had repented during his pretrial detention, he is now self-employed full-time with his brother and is busy paying off his debts. The court also took into account that his wife is pregnant.
“Unconditional imprisonment longer than pretrial detention will have a negative impact on the positive transformation of the suspect’s life. Finally, the court took into account that this appears to be a sporadic case in which the death of his two daughters and his financial situation had a significant impact on his behavior,” the court said in its judgment.
The court said the man said during the hearing he would not engage in such behavior again and that his good intentions were best supported by his daily activities outside of prison with his family and work.
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