Tuesday, 18 June 2013 - 06:19
Dutch teen football players, Dad convicted
On Monday, six teenage football players and one of the player’s father were found guilty of manslaughter after beating a volunteer linesman to death. The crime has sparked outrage across the football-loving nation.
Steven Depolo/flickr
Dutch forensic experts said that the victim, 41-year-old Linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen, mainly died of the results from his beatings, and not from a possible underlying medical condition that the defendants’ lawyers claimed he might have had.
The Dutch court sentenced the 50-year-old El-Hasan D, the father of one of the youth players, to six years in prison. Meanwhile, the guilty teenagers who were players for Nieuw Sloten Amsterdam, have been sentenced to 12 and 24 months youth detention.
Nieuwenhuizen was attacked by the footballers during a match in Almere, near Amsterdam, where he was officiating. He was brought to the hospital after collapsing hours after the game. He became comatose and eventually died the next day.
Nieuw Sloten Amsterdam’s management said it was "deeply shocked” by the incidence. Moreover, it planned to forever ban players who are accountable.