Emotional father calls for information on son's fatal assault on Mallorca

The father of Carlo Heuvelman (27), who died after a fatal assault in Mallorca, told his story on behalf of the family in the program Opsporing Verzocht on AVROTROS on Tuesday evening. With this, the father hopes that witnesses who have not yet come forward "get over their timidity", he said. Two new suspects were arrested on Wednesday.

"It's not snitching. This isn't shoplifting, this is something super serious," said the father. With his appearance on the program, he hopes that eventually all witnesses and videos of the assault will end up with the police. Not everyone who was there that night has come forward yet.

After he left for the holiday destination, Heuvelman's father and mother saw their son for the first time in the hospital, where he was in a deep coma. "You know, on the one hand you hope he will be okay," the father told AVROTROS. "But on the other hand... if he lives, how would he want to? Of course it is very difficult when you have to make such a decision for your son. I'm glad I didn't have to do that."

In the morning of 14 July, Heuvelman was assaulted in the nightlife crowd. He died a few days later from his injuries. Including Wednesday's arrests, there are eight suspects, aged 18 and 19, all from Hilversum, in custody for the case. "The various suspicions concern co-perpetration of manslaughter, co-perpetration of attempted manslaughter, and public violence," the Public Prosecutor reported.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) wants to talk to witnesses who have not come forward yet. On Opsporing Verzocht, blurred images of a number of wanted witnesses were shown. "So that we know what they saw and can record their statements," said an OM spokesperson. The decision to show images of witnesses was made "in the interest of the investigation". "With the blurred images, the impact on privacy is minimal."

There was also a general appeal to people who have images or photos from the evening to hand them over to the police. "Take your responsibility, even though you are so young," the father said.

By Wednesday morning, the broadcast of Opsporing Verzocht yielded six tips via the tip line. Someone also came forward with footage, a police spokesperson said.

The spokesperson could not yet say what tips were involved, or whether the footage is new. "It is important that this is carefully investigated first. In any case, we know for sure that there must be additional footage, because the witnesses we spoke to describe images that we have not yet seen."

According to the police spokesperson, more than fifty people have now been spoken to, but there must be more people who may have seen something that night in the El Arenal entertainment area. "Every story, every photo or video can take us further to gain clarity and provide information about what happened," said the spokesman. "That is not only important for the prosecution, but also for the surviving relatives. They are entitled to it. Do not hesitate and come forward."