23 apr 2024 om 18:02 Update: 13 uur geleden
The court in Den Bosch has sentenced 37-year-old Hicham R. from Eindhoven to fourteen years in prison for kidnapping, torture and trafficking in weapons and hard drugs. The judge called the way the victim was tortured “shocking”.
According to the court, it has been proven that R. cut off two fingertips of a kidnapped man and hit his feet with a hammer. The judge spoke of “laconic, degrading and sadistic” treatment. The imposed sentence is two years lower than the Public Prosecution Service demanded.
R. came into the sights of the police and the judiciary due to a nightly check on a van he was driving in April 2021. There was a curfew at the time due to the corona measures.
The police came across a loaded firearm and subsequently also searched the man’s apartment. In the basement parking lot, the police found three cars with a cache of drugs and weapons, including hand grenades. In the follow-up investigation it became clear that R. was involved in the trade in weapons and drugs. That investigation focused on a large amount of encrypted communications.
The kidnapping and subsequent torture also came to light in those crypto messages. The victim was accused of stealing drugs from R.’s storage. The man was lured from Belgium to the Netherlands in June 2020 and then kidnapped. The torture took place in a garage in Eindhoven, where the victim was tied up and blindfolded.
Based on investigation, the police concluded that the wrong person had been arrested. R. has denied.
Tags: years prison kidnapping degrading sadistic torture Domestic
