The court of East Brabant has a sentenced a 45-year-old man to 180 hours of community service and paying damages, because by his fault a girl of 6 received GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid).
The accused was doing jobs around his house in Eindhoven in June last year. His daughter and her girlfriend were playing in the house. He poured a cup of lemonade for the children and himself. He also put a splash of GHB in his own cup. He then went to the barn to get something. In the meantime the girlfriend drank from the cup of the suspect. She was sick almost immediately and had to be rushed to the hospital. The girl had to throw up, had significant breathing stops and breathing disorders and fell into a coma. She had to fight for her life.
The suspect claimed that he did not know that the liquid in the girl’s lemonade was GHB. He did get the stuff from someone in the gym and he used it as a fat burner.
Careless act
The court finds that the man noticeably acted careless. It is, according to the court, due to him that a friend of his daughter got heavily physically injured. He should have taken care of her to ensure that she did not drink from his cup. The court also charges the man with the fact that he did not immediately indicate that the girl had drunk the wrong lemonade. That he only admitted this after he was confronted with the results of the blood and urine investigations, a month after the incident.
“As a result, everyone remained in uncertainty very long time and the turmoil lasted for a long time”, according to the court. When determining the punishment, the court took into account the fact that the defendant immediately took the girl to the hospital when she became ill. The man has shown repentance. He has said that he feels terribly guilty for the suffering he inflicted on the girl and her family.
In addition to a community service the defendant has to pay the parents of the victim a compensation of more than EUR 2,700.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Bob
