April 21, 2010

Taxi driver gets two years for killing client

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 10:41 pm

A taxi driver at the busy Amsterdam taxi stand Leidseplein was sentenced to two years in jail instead of the usual four for murder for beating a client, leading to his death (manslaughter). Last year, the taxi driver beat the man to death over the price of a cab ride. He dealt a deadly blow by going all amateur Jean Claude Van Damme on the man with his kickboxing. The court had asked for three years, but it turned into two and public opinion knows that if he’s nice he’ll get out even sooner, hence the commotion. This violent man has been in court before for threatening and assaulting three girls in 2007.

To give you some background, the taxi market in Amsterdam was liberalised a few years ago, out of town taxis were allowed to come and work in Amsterdam with little or no knowledge of the city and the situation is a general mess for honest taxi drivers and clients like me who need a cab at 3 am because I am carrying DJ equipment that won’t fit on my bicycle. There are many incidents, but this is really bad. The city of Amsterdam should really do something, but we don’t currently have a mayor and politics aren’t touching difficult issues until June.

As well, there is a constant claim that judges are too soft on sentencing in general, but I can’t judge (pardon the pun) if that is the case.

Back in October 2008 in Nijmegen, Gelderland, a 31-year-old taxi driver ran over a 29-year-old man because he refused to pay his taxi driver colleague.

(Link: spitsnieuws.nl)

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October 14, 2008

Two odd acts of mindless violence

Filed under: Food & Drink,General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:34 am
Street tile

Last Saturday, a 31-year-old man from Zwolle, Overijssel beat up a lumpia (spring roll) seller because the man did not sell vegetarian spring rolls. When the 60-year-old spring roll seller told him this last Saturday, the client got angry and beat the older man repeatedly in the face and on the head. A security guard of the shopping centre where the spring roll stand is located intervened and held the angry man until the police came to draw up a complaint.

Last Sunday in Nijmegen, Gelderland, a 31-year-old taxi driver ran over a 29-year-old man because he refused to pay his taxi driver colleague. The 29-year-old client was driven around for hours in a taxi and when the meter had reached an amount of 250 euro, the man couldn’t pay. He got out of the car and walked away. Two taxi drivers came to the ‘rescue’, with one of them driving over the reluctant client. A witness saw the incident and called the police.

What’s with this street tile of a ladybug? Since 1999 it has been the Dutch symbol for “no mindless violence” and can be found in front of bars, clubs and other places where fights usually break out.

(Links: vleesmagazine.nl, knurps.nl)

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