Footballer Quincy Promes could get 2 years for stabbing cousin; Victim demands €1 million

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded two years in prison against Quincy Promes on Friday. The 31-year-old professional footballer is accused of stabbing his cousin in the knee at a party in Abcoude on 25 July 2020. The OM considers aggravated assault proven.

The victim sustained severe injuries in the stabbing incident. The knife hit him in an important tendon, which left him unable to use his leg for a long time. He had to rehabilitate for a long time and can no longer squat or run. He also has post-traumatic stress disorder.

Promes did not attend his trial in the court of Amsterdam due to contractual obligations to the Russian club Spartak Moscow, for whom he plays. Promes fears being arrested if he comes to the Netherlands. The OM also wants to question him in another case.

The stabbing happened at Quincy’s brother’s birthday party. An argument and a fight preceded it. According to the OM, the motive was that his cousin stole a necklace worth 3,000 euros from Promes’s aunt in 2015. In a tapped conversation with his aunt, Promes allegedly said that he had “restored the honor.”

Promes took the law into his own hands, according to the OM. “He should have taken responsibility because, as a professional football player, he is an example,” the prosecutor said.

According to Promes’ lawyer, the tapped conversation cannot be used as evidence because Promes was being tapped for another investigation. In addition, the conversation with his brother, father, and aunt was recorded “after a night of heavy drinking.”

The OM initially prosecuted Promes for attempted manslaughter or aggravated assault. The charge was later upgraded to attempted murder, to the satisfaction of the victim’s lawyer, who insisted on it. But according to the OM, there is insufficient evidence for the attempted manslaughter charge. Witnesses did see Promes make several stabbing motions when his cousin was on the ground. But according to the OM, he did not try to kill the victim. He stabbed him in the knee, and no one saw him aiming at his groin or body.

The victim claimed compensation of 30,000 euros for immaterial damage. The OM advised the court not to reimburse more than 11,000 euros. The cousin wants to recover the material damage in a civil suit. That amount is over a million euros, he revealed at the hearing.