Algemeen Dagblad, March 14, 2024
Thump for relatives: Sanil B. acquitted of manslaughter of Carlo Heuvelman after all
MALLORCA-SAAK The 22-year-old Sanil B. from Hilversum has been acquitted of manslaughter of Carlo Heuvelman after all. He was the only one convicted by the court. However, the court of appeal in Leeuwarden acquitted him. Heuvelman was kicked to death on Mallorca in a night of violence in July 2021. For that, no one is now convicted. The verdict is an incredible blow to Carlo's relatives.
Sanil did receive a sentence for attempted manslaughter of two other victims and for committing open violence: 32 months in prison, three of which were suspended. Sanil had already spent two periods in prison: on remand and after the earlier conviction by the court. Altogether he has already served about two years, so he has to stay inside for another five months. He hugged his lawyers Peter Plasman and Anis Boumanjal after the verdict.
'Shocking to see'
Sanil, according to the court, was the most aggressive of the group of Hilversum friends involved in multiple brawls in Mallorca in 2021. "Shocking to see that you have no qualms about kicking people with extreme violence lying on the ground." Sanil was also the first to engage Carlo Heuvelman's group, but there is thus insufficient evidence that he gave Carlo the fatal kicks. The witnesses are not convincing enough, stating "too variable and too reticent. The court also finds that Carlo's dna trace on Sanil's shoe could have gotten there in another way. Moreover, it is a very small trace, the court says.
Sanil has always denied having kicked Carlo. He was the only one convicted for that by the court in Lelystad in late 2022 (and received seven years in prison), but appealed. By the way, the Public Prosecution (OM) had three suspects for Carlo's death in its sights at the time. But the two others, Mees T. and Hein B., were already acquitted by the court of manslaughter of Carlo. On appeal, the prosecution had demanded another sentence (ten years) only against Sanil for Carlo's death.
All defendants were present at the verdict Thursday. The court said it realized that the verdict is hugely unsatisfactory and a severe blow to Carlo Heuvelman's family. Their lawyer Edwin Bosch said after the verdict that "silence is rewarded.
"They're angry and shocked and they don't have faith in the rule of law anymore," Bosch said after calling Carlo's parents. ''And they are again appealing for anyone who knows anything more to tell them. The same goes for the suspects, he said. If one does get bothered by his conscience ... My door is always open. There will be no more cassation anyway, I think. So the criminal case is over. But for the family it is more important to know what happened to their son, than the punishments handed out."
Mother begged for clarity
During the hearing of the appeal late last year, it became clear once again how frustrating the case surrounding the death of Carlo Heuvelman of Waddinxveen is. His mother then made a very emotional appeal to the group of young Hilversum suspects: "I can't stand that people here just want to save their own skin. How can no one have seen anything? Tell what you did and saw! And accept the consequences! Not knowing what happened to my son is indigestible. Please give me clarity, even if anonymously. I only have pictures and a grave," she said crying and almost pleading. No answer ever came.
In the room, seven suspects then looked sternly ahead. They all got no further in their response than "that they are very sorry, but really don't know what happened to Carlo. Main suspect Sanil B. also always kept denying. The parents of Carlo Heuvelman now have to hope that someday someone will talk.
The six other defendants in the appeal (Mees T., Hein B., Daan van S., Stan F., Kaan B. and Lukas O.) also heard Thursday their final sentences for various forms of violence they were involved in that night in Majorca. Some for attempted manslaughter of other victims they made that night. Most of the group had been in prison for periods, on remand or after conviction by the court in Lelystad. The court already said before sentencing "that no one has to go back to jail. That applies then to the six suspects who were already out of jail.
Mees T. is given fourteen months in prison by the court, of which fifty days on probation. Kaan B. will receive eleven months in prison, of which 83 days on probation. Daan van S. will receive the same sentence as Kaan. Hein B. receives fifteen months in prison, of which 118 days on probation. Lukas O. will receive eighteen days in prison and 240 hours of community service. Stan F. will receive 110 hours of community service.
Only ten hours on Mallorca
The suspects, all aged 18 or 19 at the time, were part of a group of friends from Hilversum who got into an argument at a café in Mallorca in July 2021 and then got into several brawls. The latest incident was with Carlo's group, which had only landed in Mallorca ten hours earlier for a vacation. When the two groups encountered each other, something racist was allegedly shouted at Sanil from Carlo's group and spit at him, but witnesses give very mixed accounts of this. It is unclear why the anger focused on Carlo at one point.
He was assaulted to the point that he fell into a coma and died in the hospital a few days later. Police in the Netherlands arrested one suspect after another from the Hilversum group of friends in the weeks that followed.
