Basically it tells the story of a Dutch man who falls asleep in front of the television, then wakes up to find it being stolen by four men. They knock him unconscious and then when he comes round force him to make them a late night snack, Chips with Mayonnaise (That alone SHOULD be a crime, I mean chips with mayonnaise??)
Anyway the upshot is that they get 400 hours of community service
What the hell was the judge thinking?? surely aggravated burglary should result in a custodial sentence? Im glad I don’t live in the Netherlands when the courts are sending out that burglary aint that serious, eben when you assault the house owner
But then again you don’t live in the Netherlands, don’t know the full facts, don’t know what the judge took into consideration and, as a result, are surely unable to make anything other than a superficial and generalised statement about the case and the country.
OK so i don’t know the full facts. What I do know is that
They entered the guys house illegally and were taking his stuff
They assaulted him by knocking him unconscious
When he came round he was, in effect, held prisoner, in that they wouldn’t have let him leave the house and was forced to cook them dinner.
What the F*ck could the judge take into consideration? that they were hungry?
The punishment did not fit the crime in my opinion
Tell you what, let’s make mandatory laws for every imaginable crime and sack the judges. After all, the reported facts always speak entirely for themselves, don’t they.
you could say that for any reported crime including all kinds of heinous shit and, in fact, there are many pit threads with this theme, ie punishment does not fit crime. If you’re gonna accuse me of generalization, then to avoid hypocrisy don’t turn round and generalize right back
What I’m saying is that on the basis of one report you accuse a country of implying that aggravated burglary is not a serious crime. Aside from the whole issue that the best punishment is not always custodial, that seemed like a leap of logic even for the pit.
Mind you, your comment about chips with mayo was spot on.
I’ll rephrase it. I’m glad I don’t live in the Netherlands if that is the message the courts are giving out. In the case of this one specific crime i am still fairly outraged at the light sentence. I was burgled myself about 3 weeks ago (slept right through it thankfully) which may explain why I fell alittle strongly about this.
Let me just add that chips without mayo is considered criminal both in The Netherlands and Belgium. Maybe that’s what got them a community service punishment…
Hey! I just had chips with mayo for lunch. And it was great, lemme tell you! The creamy greasy gooyness (sp?) of the mayo, combined with the crisp salted structure of the chips…
I guess those damn Brits want it with vinegar. Yuck!
I’m sure I could find many seemingly ridiculous court rulings from the UK. Does that mean that the whole country is crazy? That I wouldn’t want to live there? No. To take one media-worthy blip about one judge/jury’s (whichever they used) ruling and condemn a whole country is petty poor logic.
Maybe that’s what got them a community service punishment…