Young teens arrested for Urk killing (updated)

Monday 23 November 2009

Three boys aged 12,13 and 15 have been arrested in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Dirk Post, whose body was found dumped in woods near the fishing village of Urk last week.

The three boys were interviewed by police at the weekend together with their parents. Police are also looking at their computer traffic and mobile phone records, the Telegraaf reports.

They are currently being held in custody. The two younger boys appeared in court on Monday, the older will appear before magistrates in the Zwolle-Lelystad district court on Tuesday.

The paper says the boy may have been killed in a fight over a girl. The 15-year-old has denied having anything to do with the killing.

Urk's mayor Jaap Kroon has urged the media to stop speculating on the reasons behind the boy's death.

Churches

The murder has shocked the staunchly Protestant village and a minute silence was held in its 20 plus churches on Sunday, the Telegraaf says. Urk, which has a population of 17,000, is a former island attached to the mainland as the result of a reclamation project.

'To think someone from your own community has done this is really terrible. You always think this cannot happen to us,' one local man told the paper.

Because the three are juveniles the toughest sentence open to judges is one year in juvenile detention centre. The focus on treating juvenile offenders in the Netherlands is on making sure they do not reoffend rather than punishment, the paper says.

Dirk Post will be buried in his home village on Tuesday morning. Friends and family will hold a silent march in the evening.

© DutchNews.nl

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