Stephan P., prime suspect in the case of the Geleen bar brawl that took the life of Fer Loontjens (47), is so shocked by the negative way his fellow locals think of him that he wants to leave Geleen.
"He had no idea that people thought so badly of him," his counsel Peer Szymkowiak said yesterday at the conclusion of his plea before the Maastricht District Court. "It is his loyalty to friends and family-which has been very important in his upbringing and embedded in his character-that led him to walk forward into that café and interfere in an argument that was already going on.

He wants to move and will focus his loyalties from now on his wife and two daughters." The 32-year-old P. owes his notorious reputation, among other things, to a 1997 conviction for manslaughter, when he received eight years for the shooting death of Geleen pub owner Tonie Kentjens. Also, many witnesses in the criminal file mention with barely concealed fear the "group around Stephan P.," which is said to behave rather intimidating in the Geleen nightlife: "When that group is there, something is always brewing."

Part of that group is now held responsible for the death of Fer Loontjens, who on Carnival Sunday in the Geleen café 't Vlaegelke was beaten so badly that he died thirteen days later. The prosecution demanded prison sentences of two to ten years against six suspects the day before yesterday; an acquittal was requested for a seventh.

Stephan P. was hearing a 10-year sentence for being a co-perpetrator to manslaughter, but according to his lawyer Szymkowiak, there is no evidence of that. Using witness statements, he tried to convince the court that the fatal injuries must have been inflicted before P. got involved in the altercation. The pathologist-anatomist testified that that injury most likely did not occur when the victim was already on the ground, while P. only became involved in the brawl at that point, Szymkowiak said, "He was the last to arrive and the first to leave." He asked the court to acquit his client of co-perpetrating manslaughter and to reduce his sentence drastically from the 10 years demanded.

Lawyer Theo Hiddema asked the same for his client, Gennaro S. (32), against whom ten years were also demanded because, according to the prosecution, he would have been the initiator of the whole brawl. "What do you mean initiator? It happened to him. My client was just standing in his spot in the café when Fer came back inside and attacked him, as witnesses testified. Only then does he beat off Loontjens, whereupon others take over. Fer gets rock-hard slaps to his head, but not from my client. Such a swat may very well have caused the fatal swish of the head."

The lawyers of most of the other defendants argued in court yesterday that their clients had no part in the fatal brawl. Counsel Francoise Landerloo of Anthony P. (26) and counsel Serge Weening of Paul S. (22) - two years have been demanded against these defendants - asked the court to acquit their clients completely because no witnesses saw them participate in the beating. Lawyer Arthur Vonken of Barry H. (26), against whom eight years in prison have been demanded, argued that the only two witnesses who did identify his client as a participant testified inconsistently and thus unreliably.

He, too, asked for acquittal. Counsel Jules Heemskerk of Rick D. (22) - eight years demanded - felt that his client, who confessed to his part in it, could not be held responsible for the death of Fer Loontjens either and could at most be convicted of open assault. On Nov. 10, prosecutor Anneke Rogier responded to the plea deal.

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