Image
Tuesday, 26 April 2016 - 15:10
Community service sought in dead relative prank calls
The Public Prosecutor demanded 180 hours of community service and 3 months probation against 23 year old Salim H. on Tuesday. H. prank called more than a hundred people, pretended to be a police officer and told them that a relative had died.
According to the Prosecutor, Salim H., from Alkmaar, inflicted terror, pain and grief on more than a hundred victims, according to Victor Schildkamp tweeting live from the courtroom. Many of his victims suffered these emotions for hours before realizing that it wasn't true.
Fifteen of his victims pressed charges. Some of them are demanding compensation.
H. confessed to making the calls during the trial. "I don't remember specifics anymore. I'm sorry", he said, adding that he was not well. "I chose people at random from Google. I typed something in like cafe Den Haag or something, then I called. I took information from the conversation with those people. I did not know who was on the line. If I said that their mother died, I gambled on whether that person still had a mother."
According to H., it started as a joke, "out of boredom". "I was not thinking about the consequences."