42-year old man gets 15 years in prison for fatal shooting in Utrecht café

The 41-year-old Mohamed A. who killed a 37-year-old man at Café De Plak in Utrecht in October 2021 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The District Court of the Central Netherlands announced the verdict in the case on Wednesday afternoon. The 41-year-old man from Utrecht was found guilty of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter of another person, and assault on a third person.

The convicted man allegedly first punched an acquaintance in the café. The two knew each other from an argument they had previously at a campsite, according to the prosecutor's office (OM). Allegedly, the victim tried to intervene, whereupon he was shot at close range. A woman standing nearby suffered a pneumothorax from the same bullet.

The convicted man from Utrecht claimed in court that he did not intentionally pull the trigger. However, the court considered it proven, based on camera footage, that the man intentionally killed the victim, taking into account that there were other victims in the crowded café.

According to RTV Utrecht, the court also found it unlikely that due to the perpetrator's lack of firearms knowledge, or due to his wounded hand sustained in the brawl, there was an unintentional gunshot, as the perpetrator previously claimed.

The prosecution had asked for 18 years, but the court considered a lesser sentence appropriate in light of previous convictions in similar cases.