Robert Gerritsen (32) dies after a fight on the Wallen during a bachelor party

Robert Gerritsen, a 32-year-old tiler from Voorthuizen and a father of two young children, travelled to Amsterdam with nine friends on 3 September 2016 for a bachelor party. On the crowded Oudezijds Achterburgwal in the Red Light District the group got into a fight with three Romanian men. Exactly what set it off has never become entirely clear. What is certain is that it escalated quickly and that blows were exchanged on both sides. One of the Romanians was pushed into the canal during the scuffle. When he climbed back onto the quay he saw one of his friends being shoved twice by Gerritsen. To protect that friend he threw a punch. The blow struck Gerritsen on the back of the head. He suffered severe brain damage and died a day later at the VU medical centre. The case had a painful aftermath for the family. Police initially described Gerritsen as a peacemaker who had tried to mediate, but revised that account after reviewing extensive camera footage: according to the investigation the Dutch group had also taken an active part in the violence. His parents pushed back hard. His father Bert and his uncle Dick demanded that his name be cleared, arguing that Robert had wrongly been cast as a brawler. According to them the detectives themselves concluded there was no evidence that Robert had fought or acted as an aggressor; he was present, but had hit or kicked no one. On 18 September 2018 the court ruled that the fatal blow had been self-defence. The Romanian who struck it was still guilty of assault and received a suspended three-month prison sentence and 150 hours of community service. A second Romanian received 70 days in prison, 46 of them suspended; a third was acquitted for lack of evidence of his participation. The court held that both the Romanians and the Dutch friends were guilty of the violence, and sentenced four of Gerritsen's friends to four months' suspended imprisonment and community service of up to 200 hours. On appeal two Romanian men were sentenced to 70 and 90 days in prison for their part in the brawl after all. The appeal court held that the defendant could not have foreseen that his punch would have such dramatic consequences, and so rejected intent to kill. It also rejected the argument that the fight as a whole had been justified self-defence.