Death of Richard Nieuwenhuizen

Richard Nieuwenhuizen (aged 41) was a Dutch man who was attacked and fatally injured on 2 December 2012 after serving as a volunteer linesman at a youth football match in Almere in which his youngest son was playing for the home team. The attack on him, for which six teenage players on the opposing team and one parent were subsequently convicted, and his death the following day have led to widespread protests and discussion in the Netherlands about violence associated with youth football, and continue to be an international example of the dangers of violence surrounding football matches.

Nieuwenhuizen, 41 years old and a resident of Almere, had three sons, the oldest a former coach at SC Buitenboys, the local football club of the Almere Buiten district, the youngest a player on the B3 team, one of the club's under-17 teams. On 2 December 2012 he officiated as a linesman at a home match played by this team against the B1 team from Nieuw Sloten, a club with players from various parts of the Nieuw-West district of Amsterdam. After the match, he was attacked and knocked down by several Nieuw Sloten players after an argument in which the players accused him of having made biased decisions. Parents intervened and he stood up, but was again knocked down and kicked in the head and around the neck. He refused medical attention and went home, returning to watch a later match, but collapsed. In hospital his condition worsened and he died the following evening, 3 December, as a result of the injury to his head, which had led to an infarct in a damaged vertebral artery.

The trial began on 29 May 2013 in Lelystad. On 17 June 2013, six teenage players, who had been 15–16 years old at the time of the incident, and the 50-year-old father of one of the players were convicted of manslaughter. El-Hasan D., the father, was sentenced to six years in prison; five of the teenagers to the maximum of two years in youth detention, six months suspended; and one, the man's son, to one year, two months suspended. An additional teenager, aged 15, was found innocent of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 days, 17 suspended, for assault on a goalkeeper. In addition, the court sentenced the convicts of paying 58,000 euro in damages, of which 25,000 euro in shock damages for the youngest son witnessing the manslaughter, and the remaining amount intending to compensate Nieuwenhuizen's sons, because their right be financially supported by their parents was partially taken from them by the death of their father.

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Wikipedia