The first seven rioters who were arrested after the Gelderland derby between NEC and Vitesse, have been held responsible in court on Tuesday morning. The rioters have been sentenced to prison terms and community service. On the day itself, 22 people were arrested, at the end of November 13 suspects are still on trial.
The seven men, who are aged between 17 and 49, have accounted for themselves in court through a special quick-trial procedure. They are suspected of vandalism and assault. One of the suspects is 47-year-old Peter G. The man left the stands during halftime because his young son wanted to leave. The atmosphere was grim and the switch was ‘turned on’ at the exit, as G. put it himself. In the end, he left his son behind and left the stands himself and then assaulted a steward and threw crush barriers at Vitesse supporters.
This man is in his 40s and went to football with his son. He said ‘Daddy I want to go’ when it got grim. But daddy – according to his own words – left his son behind and joined the #rioters in the moat of the stadium. He now regrets it a lot
— betty glass (@RTLnieuwsbetty) Nov 2, 2021
The suspect regrets hurting the female flight attendant. “I am not the man to hurt women,” he is quoted by RTL reporter Betty Glas. The man then said crying that he himself does not understand why he does such things and that he is looking for help. The judge convicted him for assaulting the female flight attendant, but also took personal circumstances into account. De G. was sentenced to thirty days in prison, of which fourteen days were conditional. In addition, he has to pay two hundred euros in damages to the steward.
Another 21-year-old suspect is also from Nijmegen. The man is suspected of public assault and throwing sticks, stones and branches at the police. He was found to be holding a metal tube. “But that was only for a while and I didn’t do anything with it,” he said. The suspect then said that he also does not know exactly what he was doing there, but that he ‘has a dislike for Arnhem and Vitesse’.
In response, the judge said that without an opponent you have no match. “Then you just stand there with eleven men kicking a ball. So it makes no sense to hate the opponent so much”. The Public Prosecution Service demands six months in prison against him. “Guests like you screw up football… And your hatred towards Vitesse has no chance”, the judge said, before handing him a suspended prison sentence of two months and 120 hours of community service. The other suspects were also given prison sentences or community service. A suspect was acquitted, because it cannot be established with certainty that this suspect is really the person he was mistaken for.