Left on a burning boat

The 29-year-old Mouad Seggari was found dead on 1 July 2020 in the cabin of a small white sailing boat on the Kloveniersburgwal in Amsterdam. According to reports, the boat had been used by homeless people. Police arrived after a noise complaint. Investigators found that a small fire had burned on the boat and that Seggari had probably died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The suspect in the case was 28-year-old Malik H., a man with no fixed address, who was arrested in Geneva, Switzerland in early August 2020 and then extradited to the Netherlands. The Public Prosecution Service suspected him of manslaughter, because he allegedly closed the cabin hatch during or after the fire while knowing that Mouad Seggari was still inside the boat and could no longer leave it on his own. According to prosecutors, Malik H. used the situation created by the fire and made it life-threatening for Seggari. At first, investigators also looked at possible arson, but the examining magistrate found insufficient grounds at that stage to hold Malik H. responsible for starting the fire. However, there were considered to be sufficient indications for manslaughter, because closing the hatch may have caused the concentration of carbon monoxide inside the cabin to rise. The prosecution later argued that Seggari might have survived if Malik H. had called for help, and demanded six years in prison for manslaughter. The motive remained unclear, but it was established that Malik H. had taken the victim’s jacket and bag. The court ultimately acquitted Malik H. of manslaughter, causing death by negligence and failing to provide assistance resulting in death, because it could not be established with enough certainty when Mouad Seggari had died. As a result, the court could not rule out that Seggari was already dead when Malik H. woke up or acted. He was also acquitted of theft. Prosecutors appealed, without success. On 26 November 2024 the Amsterdam court of appeal, in investigation Lowdes, acquitted Malik H. across the board: it could not be lawfully and convincingly proven that he had intent, even conditional intent, as to Seggari's death, or that he was culpably negligent. Seggari had died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the fire in the cabin.