Five years for murdering someone, apparently picked at random, is disgraceful. Since when did the idea of liberalism and toleration become so perverted that it shields human vermin from the consequences of their actions? Yes, there should be more toleration and more liberalism in this country but the way to preserve those ideals is to punish those who would take advantage of them to cause misery and misfortune for others.

The pathetic attempt at a defence of 'being drunk' seems to be the standard excuse for the fighting, vandalism and ant-social behaviour that is becoming more commonplace in Dutch cities. It's a pathetic excuse used by dull-witted hyenas afraid to take responsibility for themselves or admit their culpability and should actually increase his sentence exponentially rather than reduce it.

By Ark | November 7, 2008 10:39 AM

When will law makers realize that soft sentences do not work. Grandmas getting beat up, children robbed, stores ramsacked, fires... It may not be too late but you must truely identify who is causing such a rise in crime and aggressively pursue and punish the offenders. This 16 year old was "old enough" to take a human life, he should forfeit his own or spend the rest of his days locked up!

By bet | November 9, 2008 7:11 PM