Dec 12, 2023 at 10:34 AM Update: 21 minutes ago
The judge will rule against Gökmen T. on Tuesday for attacks on employees of De Schie prison in Rotterdam. T. is already serving a life sentence for the attack on a Utrecht tram in 2019, in which four people were killed.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is demanding ten years in prison for three violent incidents, including attempted murder. This afternoon the Rotterdam court will give its ruling.
In February 2021, T. stabbed a prison guard in the neck and face. For this, T. used a piece of copper that he had demolished from a refrigerator pipe. According to the public prosecutor, this is a murder attempt, because they thought about making a weapon.
The ruling also takes into account two other incidents. T. allegedly threw a pan of hot oil at an employee in October 2021 and destroyed equipment in the recreation room because he was not allowed to pray there. In July 2022, T. allegedly destroyed fitness equipment.
T.’s lawyer asks for an acquittal for the murder attempt, because T. would not have had the intention to kill the guard. Moreover, the facial injuries were not life-threatening.
The lawyer asks the judge to only find T. guilty in the case of destruction of property and not to impose an additional prison sentence. According to the lawyer, an additional prison sentence serves no purpose.
Punishment may influence possible pardon request
But the public prosecutor believes that an additional sentence does have a function. “Life imprisonment cannot be a license to continue committing criminal offenses with impunity,” the officer said in an earlier hearing. “It does not provide immunity to inmates.”
A conviction may also affect the length of his prison sentence. Convicts can submit a request for clemency. The chance that such a request will be granted is much smaller if the applicant has been convicted of violence during his prison sentence.
T. complains about restrictions on his rights
T. used the previous hearing of this case to express his dissatisfaction with restrictions in prison. He had only come to the hearing to draw attention to his rights. The court does not recognize T.. He had left before the officer had finished making his demand.
T. complained, among other things, that he had had to wear handcuffs in prison for two years. He was also handcuffed in court. In addition, T. has filed complaints because the prison prevents him from exercising and he is only allowed to exercise in a small outdoor area.
According to T., the violent incidents are the result of his frustrations with the prison regime: “I do regret it, but it doesn’t happen out of nowhere. I want to get out of trouble.”
This year, T. is said to have misbehaved again in prison, it reported AD. In August he allegedly destroyed furniture and threatened staff. The prison therefore filed a report against T for the fourth time. The last report was not included in this criminal case.
2023-12-12 09:34:43
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