AMSTERDAM - The fugitive from Curaçao Gerel Palm (37) was sentenced by the court in absentia on Thursday to twenty years in prison for a double murder attempt at Noordeoos in 2016. The punishment is equal to the demand of the public prosecutor.
In the court's opinion, Palm proceeded very precisely and systematically and prepared for several months. "Everything was aimed at ending both victims’ lives in the right place and at the right time. He left them for dead."
The court calls it miraculous that both victims survived. One of the victims was shot in the head, after which he was shot three more times. The second victim was hit twice.
Palm managed to escape from prison in Suriname in 2017 and has been hiding from the police and the judiciary ever since. He was therefore not present at his criminal case, nor was a lawyer.
The court saw enough evidence for premeditated counsel. Palm had provided one of his victims with a secure phone and a car a few months earlier. They would meet several times.
At the relevant appointment in December, Palm had ordered one of the Rotterdammers to take his best friend to the Chilidreef in Utrecht. On the way they had to turn off their phones. On Chilidreef they had to leave their phones in the car and get into Palm's Audi. They drove to Noordeloos, a town in the province of South Holland.
Once at the destination, both men had to get off. Palm took out a gun for no reason and shot the youngest victim in the head and body, then shot the man who fled into the pasture and jumped into a ditch.
Palm's car was later found burnt. Shortly afterwards he flew back to Suriname. His motive has not been clarified.
The court issued an arrest warrant. In the event of an arrest, Palm can go directly to prison. Justice also suspects Gerel Palm of executing the murder of spyshop employee Ronald Bakker. He was shot dead at his home in Huizen in 2015.
Justice suspects that Palm worked as an executor for Ridouan Taghi and Saïd Razzouki at the time. The murder in Huizen is part of the great Marengo trial.