Teen sentenced to two years in juvenile detention for fatal Amsterdam-Zuidoost shooting

A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to two years in juvenile detention for the fatal shooting of fellow teenager Rivaldo in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The Amsterdam court also imposed youth TBS, a treatment order for young offenders, in addition to the maximum custodial sentence available in juvenile justice.

“According to experts, he has limited capacity for empathy and a poorly developed conscience, and the risk of reoffending is high. A long and intensive treatment is needed to achieve a positive change in behaviour,” the court in its ruling said.

Rivaldo was killed by gunfire at a football field on August 7 last year. A 16-year-old suspect at the time was arrested the following day but denied any involvement and refused to provide further explanation, something the court criticised in its judgment.

Judges also pointed to what they described as a “culture of silence” in the neighbourhood, noting it was deeply troubling that witnesses declined to speak to police. Because of this, the victim’s family is left without answers about what happened.

“The suffering he has inflicted on Rivaldo’s parents and siblings is immense,” the court also wrote about the suspect. “They will have to learn to live with the severe harm done to Rivaldo and the injustice of it.” The fatal violence has also shocked society as a whole, the court noted.

The conviction was partly based on CCTV footage: while the actual moment of the fatal shots was not recorded, footage did show the events immediately before and after the shooting.

Investigators found that roughly an hour before the shooting, a friend of Rivaldo had been robbed of a necklace. The suspect ended up with the item, and Rivaldo attempted to retrieve it, according to findings from the case.