5 yr. old asylum seeker found beaten, left for dead; Young boys suspected

A 5-year-old boy was severely beaten and left for dead at the asylum seekers center at the former Valkenburg airport in Katwijk last weekend. The police suspect another young resident of the center, an 11-year-old boy, is the perpetrator. The residents worry that more perpetrators may have been involved and fear for the safety of their children, Omroep West reports.

A resident of the asylum seekers' center told the broadcaster that the young victim, Adam, is still in critical condition. "He was seriously injured, and that says a lot about his situation. He is still in a coma," said the man, who has contact with Adam's mother in the asylum center.

The residents of the asylum seekers' center would like to know what exactly happened. They point out that the spot where Adam was left for dead near the center is on the other kids' route to school. Parents worry that the 11-year-old suspect didn't act alone and that their children aren't safe.

"My children are now big enough to walk to school on their own," one woman said to Omroep West. "They walk there and back. But now I go with them because of what happened."

A woman who fled from Eritrea hoped the Netherlands would be a safe place for her and her children, but now she has doubts. "We can't sleep. Our kids have a lot of questions about what happened to Adam," she said. "We want to feel safer because we don't feel good right now."

The residents told Omroep West that the 11-year-old's family came from Afghanistan, and they've only been in the Netherlands for a few weeks. They worry that, due to the many asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands at the moment, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) is not screening new arrivals' mental health carefully enough.