Omroep GelderlandBrinkman during the felling of the trees
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 02:12
Christmas tree grower Gerrit Brinkman from Apeldoorn was desperate last summer: someone had cut off the tops of his 6,000 spruces. But it won’t be a gloomy Christmas: the destroyed trees will still be sold.
“The entire field just empties,” says Brinkman with relief against Omroep Gelderland. “Apparently you can also sell Christmas trees without a peak.”
Brinkman was hit twice by sabotage in August. In addition to the topped trees, poison was also sprayed in his fields in Wenum-Wiesel and Beemte-Broekland. “Seeing this brings tears to my eyes,” he said at the time. “Seven years of work for nothing. The damage can amount to three to four tons.”
Thousands of Christmas trees destroyed from a grower in Apeldoorn
Now he is busy harvesting. In the summer he already received calls from private individuals who wanted to collect a damaged tree, but large customers also registered.
“There are traders and garden centers who purchase up to 500 trees. They will sell them for me,” he says. “I ended up getting more customers because of it.”
Brinkman also contributes to the Christmas atmosphere of neighborhoods in Almelo, Hengelo and Nijverdal. “We put Christmas trees on both sides of the road,” says Piet Terlouw of the Spijkerweg in Nijverdal, where 33 trees will be placed. “At night in the dark you can’t see that there’s no top in it.”
Perpetrator unknown
Brinkman says he will dispose of the trees at cost price. He finds all the interest moving. “That’s fantastic. What was done to me is being turned into something positive. It turns out there are more good people than bad people.”
However, three months after the destruction it is not yet known who was behind it. Brinkman also says he has no idea about the motive. “Why does someone do this? That really bothers me. You just don’t do this. This is level zero crime.”
Although the police investigation is still ongoing, Brinkman hopes that the perpetrators will come forward. “This has gone on long enough,” he says. “Just report.”
2023-11-27 01:12:07
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