Tennis coach, implicated in businessman’s murder, in court today
Tennis coach Mark de J. is appearing in court for the first time today regarding the murder of business man Koen Everink. The Public Prosecutor is charging De J. with murder or manslaughter. This pre-trial hearing in the court in Utrecht will focus on whether or not the tennis coach will remain in custody, RTL Nieuws reports.
Business man Everink was found stabbed to death in his home in Bilthoven on Saturday morning, March 4th. It is believed that his 6-year-old daughter found him lying dead in a pool of blood. Emergency services responded to the home at 8:50 a.m. that morning, but Everink was already dead. He had dozens of stab wounds in his back, chest, legs and hands.
According to the broadcaster, three blood covered knives were found in the home. But there was no DNA on any of them. Everink's phone is also missing.
De J. was at Everink's house on Friday night, March 3rd. The two watched football together. The tennis coach is the last known person to see Everink alive. After Everink's murder it was revealed that De J. is a poker player and has a large amount in poker debt. He also owed Everink some 20 thousand euros.
The Prosecutor believes that De J. murdered Everink, possibly because of the money he owed the business man. He was arrested at Schiphol airport late in March. But De J. vehemently denies this. He acknowledges that he was at Everink's home on the night before the businessman was found dead. But insists that Everink was still alive when he left.
The tennis coach later told the police that he was kidnapped by four men when he left Everink's home that night, his father told Dutch newspaper AD. According to father Dirk de J., the police are ignoring his son's version of events.
"The police suffer from tunnel vision", Dirk said to the newspaper. "From the outset they set their sights on Mark. Deception, misinterpretation, intimidation, everything is being used to make Mark look guilty. They are completely not looking at Mark's story about what happened that night. The law shows itself at its worst."
According to Dirk, his son was abducted by a group of me in his own car outside Everink's home on Hoflaan. "Further down Holfaan people got out and boarded, they drove off and threatened Mark. He had to keep quiet about the evening, otherwise something will be done to him or his family. That's why he only later told the police. Mark suspects these men killed Everink, but the police ignore all other scenarios and possible enemies of Everink."
