Eric A. (50) will not receive a new sentence for vandalizing the Nicky Verstappen memorial. The man threw stones against the memorial on the Brunssummerheide on April 5, 2019.

The Heerlen man was also arrested in 2007 and 2012 for vandalizing the monument.

Schizophrenic disorder

In the past, Eric also claimed to have something to do with the death of Nicky Verstappen, but at the time the court dismissed that story as hot air. After all, the Heerlen man had been struggling with mental health issues for years and had been forced into a psychiatric clinic several times because of schizophrenic disorder and psychoses.

Murder thoughts

The man is receiving medication to control his disorder. "From that syringe, I got murder thoughts," Eric looks back on April 2019. "I was angry because of that syringe. But I didn't expect the little monument to be broken if I threw stones at it." In the meantime, things are said to be going much better for Eric, who is in an assisted living program.

"Do you understand that this is very sad for the parents of Nicky Verstappen?" the judge stopped him Tuesday. "Yes, but many children die. They don't have a monument."

Vulnerable suspect

Because of his disorder, Eric barely knows empathy, which would partly explain his actions and thinking. "This is a very vulnerable suspect, who you can hardly blame for this," attorney Sjanneke de Crom said Tuesday. "Sir has been known within the mental health system since 1994." Justice demanded no sentence for the same reason, other than the three days Eric has already spent in pretrial detention. The judge went along with that.

Nicky Verstappen

Since the destruction of the monument in April 2019, things have been happening in the Nicky Verstappen case. Jos Brech was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in November 2020 and immediately appealed. The first appeal hearing has yet to take place.