Severely injured man found in home on Werengouw

The 43-year-old Alwin Sathie died after a violent argument with his 60-year-old friend Severino C. in C.’s apartment on the Werengouw in Amsterdam-Noord. In the night of 13 to 14 January 2019, neighbours heard a fierce argument that went on for hours, with both men shouting at each other. When police officers entered the apartment shortly after three o’clock in the morning, they found Sathie lying face down on the floor without a heartbeat. The home was heavily damaged. There were bloodstains throughout the apartment, broken furniture, shattered glass, soil, a damaged front door, and damaged doors and windows. Severino C. was lying on a bed in the guest room at that moment. Sathie was resuscitated and taken to the AMC hospital, but he died two days later from brain damage. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Sathie and Severino C. had a turbulent relationship in which domestic violence occurred repeatedly on both sides. Police had already had to intervene 22 times before. A few weeks earlier, Sathie had been forced to leave his sister’s home, after which Severino C. had temporarily taken him in. On 13 January, the two men celebrated that Sathie had found housing in Zunderdorp and drank wine together. According to C., the atmosphere changed when Sathie made clear that he still wanted to keep living with him, something C. considered irresponsible. C. stated that Sathie attacked him from behind and pulled him to the ground by his pyjamas. During a struggle, he said he pushed Sathie away with his legs, but claimed to remember little else because both men were “dead drunk.” Investigators found signs of serious violence inside the apartment. Fingerprints and blood from both men were found on a broken coat rack, Sathie appeared to have been hit with a wine bottle, and both men had bite wounds. In intercepted conversations, Severino C. said, among other things, that he apparently had “hit his friend on the head with a bottle” and that “something inside him had snapped” before he blacked out. The prosecution considered his statements contradictory and not fully consistent with the forensic evidence, but ultimately found insufficient proof that Severino C. had actually beaten his friend to death. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Sathie may also have fallen badly after being assaulted by C. For that reason, the prosecutor did not demand a long prison sentence for manslaughter. Instead, the prosecution requested a sentence equal to the three and a half months of pre-trial detention Severino C. had already served, plus 25 days suspended, for assault resulting in death. That is not how it ended. On 14 December 2021 the Amsterdam court acquitted Severino C. of both manslaughter and aggravated assault resulting in death: on the case file, Sathie's death could not be attributed to his conduct. For the assault itself he was given six weeks in prison, three of them conditional.