A 51-year-old man from Velp, Gelderland, who exploded after ten years of nuisance and attacked his neighbor with a club, has been sentenced to community service. The court ordered him to work 90 hours plus a 60-day prison sentence, 58 days of which was suspended. The man had been in custody for two days. He has to pay the neighbor 1500 euros in damages.
His girlfriend called him early in the morning last March in a panic at work and told him that the neighbor was banging against the roller shutter. She didn’t dare go there.
Beaten three times
You ignore it, you ignore it, you ignore it… and at some point it explodes
The man jumped into his car, drove home, grabbed a bat he had in his car and attacked the neighbor. He hit him three times. After two blows to his arm, the victim fell. The third blow hit his head as a result.
He had a cut on his head and the fall broke his thumb. The thumb became infected, had to be operated on and his lawyer told the court two weeks ago that there may even be an amputation.
Not an aggressive man
De Velpenaar told the court that he was not an aggressive man, but that after ten years of nuisance he had been pushed to the limit. The neighbor had “terrorized” him, he said. There was noise, vandalism and verbal abuse. More local residents would have been bothered by him. The police had been there once in a while. Then it had been quiet for a while and then it started again, he said.
It was a coincidence that he had a bat in his car. He had found it at work and his boss allowed him to take it with him.
Making a fresh start
According to the neighbor, his attacker was the one who caused the nuisance. The housing association has now started a procedure and it is the intention that the attacker will move. During the hearing, the man indicated that he was fine with that. He wants to make a fresh start.
The public prosecutor was surprised that there had never been any mediation between the neighbors. No complaints were received from the housing association. “It will be in the character,” said the officer. “You ignore it, you ignore it, you ignore it…and at some point it explodes.”
Attempted aggravated assault
The sentence imposed is less than what the public prosecutor had demanded. He spoke of aggravated assault, but the court saw no evidence that the broken thumb was caused by the Velpenaar and ruled that it was an attempt at aggravated assault.
The suspect should have asked for mediation, according to the court, and should not have taken matters into his own hands (literally even).
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