Dutch teens face lino death trial

Seven Dutch teens and a father went on trial Wednesday charged with kicking to death an amateur football linesman last year, a killing that sent shockwaves around the Netherlands and the world. Linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, was allegedly kicked several times in the head by enraged youth players shortly after the final whistle at an amateur game in December. The linesman died shortly afterwards in hospital, leading to much soul-searching in the football-mad Netherlands, while the teenage boys and one of their fathers were charged with manslaughter. Prosecution spokeswoman Jetty Bult said that the five days of hearings would try to establish "what happened very quickly, in a minute, based on testimony." Most of the accused teens' parents were in court, with journalists only allowed to follow proceedings from a video screen next door because of the age of most of the defendants. Nieuwenhuizen's widow and one of their sons had arrived at the court arm-in-arm, declining to speak to journalists. Lawyers on Wednesday sought to work out the sequence of events leading up to and during the beating, with most of the accused denying having hit Nieuwenhuizen. The court was shown photographs taken during the assault. "I exercise my right to remain silent," one young suspect, who can't be named for legal reasons, said after judge Anja Van Holten told him traces of the linesman's DNA had been found on his football boots. Many other of the accused chose to remain silent, while also accusing Nieuwenhuizen of not officiating fairly. "Several times he called offsides when there were none," said the sole adult suspect, El-Hasan D., 51. "Everyone was arguing, people on both teams." As the situation degenerated, spectators and parents got involved in a brawl, while some tried to stop the fight. "I didn't hit anyone. All I did was try to keep people apart," said El-Hasan D. One boy said he kicked Nieuwenhuizen in the shoulder after seeing another player kick him in the head. Some of the accused said Nieuwenhuizen had insulted them after the match, which ended 2-2, and that members of the other team had also said "come on and fight". Christopher Milroy, a former chief forensic pathologist in Britain, testified for the defence that the victim may have died of other causes, including a spontaneous, fatal tear in an artery in his neck because of a genetic anomaly. The Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI), which conducted part of the autopsy, concluded in its report that it was "highly likely that the linesman died of kicks to the head and neck" during the December 2 assault, the NRC newspaper reported. The seven youths and El-Hasan D. were subsequently arrested and charged. The youths and El-Hasan are charged with manslaughter, public violence and brutality. Five youths, aged between 16 and 17 at the time, as well as El-Hasan, have been held in custody pending the hearing while the youngest, aged 15, and another youth were freed but face similar charges. All eight are connected to, or are members of, the Nieuw Sloten football club, which played against Nieuwenhuizen's Buitenboys Club in Almere, just east of Amsterdam, when the attack occurred. Nieuwenhuizen officiated as a linesman in the under-17 match, in which his own son also played, and was set upon immediately after by members of the Nieuw Sloten club. He was allegedly kicked several times in the head but got up and went home. He became ill a few hours later and died the following day in hospital with his family at his side. The linesman's death horrified the Netherlands, where 1.2 million people out of a population of 16.5 million are members of the national football federation KNVB. Around the country signs were put up which read in Dutch: "Zonder respect geen voetbal" -- "Without respect, no football". Teams at the Club World Cup in Japan held a moment of silence in Nieuwenhuizen's memory before the tournament kicked off. Should the teenage suspects be found guilty, they could face between one and two years behind bars in a special facility for minors. The maximum punishment for manslaughter for adults is 15 years in jail. Source: AFP