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A 69-year-old was taken into custody after explosives were found in his apartment. A guest of the man was the victim of a car bombing a night earlier. Nov. 12, 2015 (photo: Zuindert community police officer Martijn Nuijten / Twitter)
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A 69-year-old was taken into custody after explosives were found in his apartment. A guest of the man was the victim of a car bombing a night earlier. Nov. 12, 2015 (photo: Zuindert community police officer Martijn Nuijten / Twitter)
Tuesday, 26 April 2016 - 14:20
Breda bombing victim lost arm, leg in attack: No faith in investigation
Chris van Esch, the 63 year old man who lost his arm and part of his leg in an explosion in Breda last year November, has no faith in the police investigation into the attack. He is very concerned that the perpetrator that very nearly killed him will never be caught, and that he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, he said to Omroep Brabant.
"I still have not properly talked to the police. How can that be, five months after the fact?" Van Esch said. "I repeatedly stated that I have something to say, but time and again I'm not questioned."
Van Esch heard from a "reliable source" from within police circles that the police stopped the investigation four months ago. "We have no reason to doubt this source. It is time that action is really taken" his lawyer, Peter Schouten, said to the broadcaster. "We are after all talking of one of the largest ever bomb attacks committed on a Dutchman."
Van Esch will likely spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair. He was in a coma for over six weeks after the attack. But he is doing well under the circumstances, he said to the broadcaster. "I need to have a few more surgeries to my ears and eyes. But to be honest I'm not so concerned with my mutilations. I lie awake at night more because the investigation is going nowhere."
"I'm afraid, so afraid that this investigation is being swept under the rug and that I'll have to keep looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. It's killing me", Van Esch said.
A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor told the broadcaster that the investigation is still going full swing, but would say nothing further "in the interest of the investigation". The investigative team is still considering multiple scenarios, including that the bombing was an accident.