GULPEN - It was not a single punch that caused the coma of 20-year-old Yoeran Meertens, but the rock-hard fall the student took the following day. That's according to a new report from a forensic doctor. Meertens was seriously injured last May during a brawl after a night out on the town in Gulpen.
The doctor made the report by order of the court in Maastricht. This report states that Meertens, who spent some time in a coma, sustained a skull fracture and severe brain damage from the fatal night out. "A high-energy trauma," the doctor said.
"In the present case there are skull (base) fractures with associated bleeding due to (tearing) of blood vessels."
The forensic physician, after reviewing the police and medical records, concluded that "the injuries as described are not primarily a result of a blow to the head. For that, the injury is too extensive and severe. The injury as described may well fit with injuries that occur when the skull comes into contact with a hard and blunt object at fall velocity," the forensic report states.
"As in a fall of the head on a hard window sill or the street. The wheel of the clicker is not likely as an object on which would have fallen". Whether the fact that Yoeran Meertens had been drinking alcohol influenced his injuries, according to the forensic doctor, is no longer to be determined. "The blood alcohol level was 2.2. Whether this blood alcohol level actually played a role in the occurrence and course of the injury can no longer be ascertained because I cannot assess what effect this blood alcohol level had on this victim at that time."
Ivo van de Bergh, attorney for one of the suspected teenagers, does not want to comment on the conclusions in the forensic report. ,,I wonder, just as the court has found this before in this case, how this could have come out again. This surprises me very much and I think it is not in the interest of my client to make further statements about this before the hearing on February 3," said the Maastricht criminal lawyer.
The Maastricht court will consider the case on the Feb. 3. This will be done behind closed doors because it involves only minor suspects, four boys aged fifteen to seventeen from Wijlre and Voerendaal. The forensic doctor will then also be heard about the conclusions in his report.
