Dance teacher Marcos Coelho (45) stabbed to death after altercation on Rozengracht

On the night of Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 July 2021, a traffic dispute on the Rozengracht in Amsterdam ended fatally. The victim, 45-year-old Brazilian Marcos Coelho, was driving his convertible along the Rozengracht that night. According to two passers-by, 31-year-old Georgian Sandro M. and co-defendant Martin L., aged 36, Coelho was driving far too fast and carelessly. Martin L. confronted him about this, after which the situation quickly escalated. Coelho parked his car on the pavement and took a metal bar, about one metre long, from the boot of his car. According to the court, witness statements did not make it completely clear who struck first, but the court did conclude that the physical confrontation was started by Coelho. He hit Sandro M. on the head with the metal bar, causing M. to suffer a broken nose and a head wound. Sandro M. then responded by stabbing Coelho several times with a knife. In total, he stabbed him eight times. The stab wounds hit, among other places, Coelho’s chest and an artery in his left leg. Marcos Coelho died from those injuries. The court found that Sandro M. had indeed been attacked and that the victim himself had played an important role in the start of the violence, but also ruled that Sandro M.’s response went far too far. According to the court, stabbing someone eight times with a knife was not proportionate to being hit once with a metal bar. The court therefore described it as a disproportionate and excessive reaction. Sandro M. was sentenced to six years in prison for the fatal violence. This was lower than the eight years demanded by the Public Prosecution Service, because the court took into account that Coelho had started the physical confrontation and had also used serious violence himself. Co-defendant Martin L. was not held responsible for Coelho’s death, because the court found that he had not played a role in the fatal stabbing. However, after the stabbing, he did use violence against the victim by hitting him, kicking him and striking him with the metal bar. For that, he was convicted of public violence and received a community service sentence of 180 hours. The Public Prosecution Service had demanded six months in prison for him, but the court considered a community service sentence sufficient.