Relatives shocked by foreign experts' report on campground murder

AALST - The cover-up surrounding the bizarre death of carpenter Gerrit Snoeren (29) seems to be finally broken. A recently completed medical forensic report shows that four years ago the Rotterdam carpenter was by no means killed in the manner the Bommelerwaard police, the public prosecutor from Den Bosch, Mr. Lukowski and pathologist-anatomist Dr. Visser of the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) always wanted to make believe.The report by research agency Independent Forensic Services (IFS) fully confirms what De Telegraaf has revealed in several reports in recent years, but was always dismissed by the public prosecutor as "speculations. Snoeren did not die in the back of a car when it crashed at high speed into some trees at a campsite in Aalst. His injuries show that he was already dead and had been deposited in the cargo space of the car of two Bossche criminals moments before.

Probably prior to the crash a car ran over the Rotterdam man and his corpse had to go somewhere to be dumped. But the truth behind Snoeren's death was never investigated by the police and judiciary and therefore did not lead to proper criminal prosecution of the perpetrator(s). Recently, the court in Den Bosch had the case reopened. The IFS report will undoubtedly put a bomb under the trial in which the court today intends to hear a large number of witnesses, including four sources of this newspaper.

For Gerrit Snoeren's family - his sister Trudy, elderly mother Gerrie and now gravely ill father Gerrit Sr. - the results are a huge shock. "We've always known that something terrible must have been done to Gerrit and that the police and the justice system got away with it. It is a shame that this only comes to light when a lawyer and a journalist dive into the case."

This is the first time that judges are also delving into the facts behind the tragedy on the night of Easter Monday, 2003. At the time, Snoeren was found lifeless in the cargo space of a Nissan Patrol that had crashed into two trees on a hiking trail in the Gelderland campground. Behind the wheel was the badly injured, comatose burglar Ruud S., next to him his uninjured, criminal companion Peter V.

Snoeren's sister Trudy stated several times to the police at the time that her brother had disliked this duo and could not possibly have voluntarily joined the two criminals. A seasoned accident specialist from the Nijmegen police also concluded in his report that the case was flawed. He found that there was far too little blood on and around the severely mutilated body of Gerrit Snoeren and that his demeanor indicated that he had been lying, not sitting, in the cargo area. The brigadier wanted an extensive technical examination at the scene, but that was waved away by the Zaltbommel police and Bossche prosecutors.

So were the findings of a municipal coroner. That suggested buyer of the wreckage was on the doorstep. Snoeren's remains were requested and examined at the NFI. But there the pathologist-anatomist Visser appeared to follow the vision of justice unthinkingly. He stated that Snoeren had died from a ruptured body artery and shattered head during the blow against the trees. Ruud S. was given three years in prison for culpable homicide and a series of burglaries, thefts and receiving stolen goods. His pal Peter V. was questioned only once briefly by the police and otherwise not given a straw.

According to attorney Mr. Frank van Aardenne, counsel for Snoeren's family members, and attorney Mr. Serge Weening counsel for suspect Ruud S., the IFS report still cries out for a real investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy. The conclusion of the medical forensic doctor reads literally: 'The limited amount of blood on the victim's T-shirt, the lack of blood traces in the Nissan, the minor blood loss and the severity of the brain injury do not support the hypothesis that the victim was alive in the car and died during the collision with the trees. But it does support the hypothesis that the victim died outside the Nissan'.

The defendant(s) in this case are assisted by: