Father sent to prison for beating up man trying to lure daughter online

Father Mario Haazen was sentenced to 10 months in prison for assaulting a 47-year-old former psychiatric patient after finding out he was trying to lure Haazen's 14-year-old daughter into a sexual relationship on social media. The court acquitted Haazen of attempted murder, AD reports.

Two weeks ago the Public Prosecutor demanded six years in prison against Haazen. The court in Den Bosch considered it proven that Haazen's attack on Jack S. was a premeditated action. "The police also regularly warned him that he was not allowed to take the law into his own hands", the judge said. "The action is understandable, but absolutely not allowed." In addition to the prison sentence, from which Haazen's time in custody will be deducted, Haazen also has to pay 1,750 euros in compensation. The victim claimed 15 thousand euros. 

Haazen discovered that the 17-year-old boy chatting with his daughter on Facebook was in fact not a teenager, but a 47-year-old man. Haazen tracked the man down on Facebook. According to him, he did everything he could to put the police on the right track, but they did not respond. The police did warn him not to intervene by himself, but he did. Haazen attacked S. with a snow shovel, injuring him severely - cuts to his leg and head and two broken arms.

Lawyer Jan-Hein Kuijpers called for Haazen to be acquitted. "Mario stood up for the safety of his and all other daughters", he said in court. "Everyone understands what happened here. The judiciary should be grateful to him because he did what the police could not: tracked down a criminal."

Haazen's daughter is relieved that her father will not have to spend six years in jail, her mother and Haazen's ex-wife said on Pauw on Thursday. "Mentally she's a wreck. She's insecure. And she lost her faith in people. But at the moment she's relieved that her father's punishment is not that bad", she said. "All though it is still ten months too long."