Parents walk out of court after acquittal in fatal hit-and-run of 14-year-old Dutch girl
The parents of 14-year-old Tamar walked out of the courtroom as the judge read the acquittal of the driver who fatally struck her. Her family's lawyer said the parents found the ruling difficult to accept, RTL reports.
On Tuesday the court in Haarlem acquitted 33-year-old Jamal T. from Germany in Tamar’s death. The girl was killed on the night of July 25, 2020, along Waterlandse Zeedijk in Zuiderwoude after running away from home. Prosecutors had sought eight weeks in jail for T.
Lawyer Sébas Diekstra, who represents Tamar’s parents, said the family finds the verdict difficult to understand. “This is for the family a bitter and hard-to-comprehend ruling,” Diekstra told RTL.
The court ruled there was insufficient evidence that T. failed to pay adequate attention to the road. He had been distracted by navigation on his phone and may have looked away for about 2.5 seconds. The court said that was not an unreasonably long time. Judges also concluded he had no reason to expect a person on the road.
The court also acquitted T. of leaving the scene without assisting the victim. He told investigators he believed he had struck an animal.
Tamar’s family, citing research by multiple experts, maintains her body was moved after the collision and placed in the berm. The court rejected that scenario as not plausible. No DNA traces of the suspect were found on Tamar. Judges saw “no leads for the scenario that the driver got out and moved the girl’s body.” They determined T. would not have had enough time for such actions.
The family remains convinced that Tamar was placed in the berm after being hit. They believe it is “completely implausible” that anyone other than T. moved her, Diekstra said.
