An appeal court has jailed two men who ran over and killed a 50-year-old man while fleeing police on a stolen scooter.

Mohamed El G. and Mohamed A. jumped on the scooter when police officers spotted them trying to break in to the Belvoir Hotel in Nijmegen in January 2010. The victim was hit on a zebra crossing and later died of his injuries.

The pair were initially acquitted when the trial court could not decide which of them was driving the scooter. The public prosecution service appealed on the basis that it was irrelevant as both men were responsible for the decision to flee the scene.

The appeal court in Den Bosch agreed, remarking that the initial verdict was ‘difficult to digest’. El G. was sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter while A. was jailed for three years and nine months. Prosecutors had sought eight years for both men.