Shot dead on Panamalaan

The 29-year-old Omar “Centjes” Essalih was shot dead in the early morning of 3 May 2020 in Amsterdam-Oost, near Panamalaan and Borneokade. He was shot several times at close range, including three times in the face and once in the torso; the shot to the torso proved fatal. When police arrived, Essalih was already dead. A burning BMW with German plates was also found nearby, and witnesses saw a man running away and jumping onto the back of a scooter. Ismail el B. and Noura O., a former football talent, later became suspects in the case. In the first-instance trial, Ismail el B. was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter, while Noura O. later received 3.5 years in prison and conditional TBS for complicity in manslaughter. At that stage, the court did not consider it proven that there had been a premeditated plan, and therefore did not convict them of murder. On appeal, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion: it found that there had been premeditation, meaning the offence was legally classified as murder. As a result, the sentences were significantly increased. Ismail el B. was sentenced on appeal to 19 years in prison, while Noura O. received 14 years in prison. In Noura O.’s case, the court took into account that she had diminished responsibility; by then, she had already successfully completed her TBS treatment. The motive for the fatal violence remained unclear. Essalih, nicknamed “Centjes,” was known in the criminal underworld; according to relatives, he had feared an attack for some time and had been warned by police that he was on a death list. The appeal took a harder line. On 1 October 2025 the Amsterdam court of appeal convicted both defendants - unlike the district court - of joint murder, devoting extensive reasoning to intent and premeditation. One received nineteen years and six months, partly for handling stolen goods; the other thirteen years, partly for theft in association, with the court taking into account that she had diminished responsibility and had already undergone a hospital order. Both sentences were discounted for the breach of the reasonable-time requirement.