Trial in the Netherlands: acquittal for speeding girls (14)

Badhoevedorp (Netherlands) – One of the Netherlands’ most closely watched trials ended unexpectedly on Tuesday with an acquittal. The Iraqi asylum seeker Jamal T. (33) from Cölbe (Hesse) looked at his cell phone while driving in the Netherlands six years ago and at that moment he killed a girl (14). He then drove on. He should first pay a fine. Only after much urging from the victim’s family did the public prosecutor’s office bring charges in March 2026.

The case caused a stir worldwide after tech billionaire Elon Musk (55) discussed it on X in June. However, the court has now acquitted Jamal T. of the allegations of hit-and-run and negligent homicide. The judges were convinced: the driver had not noticed that he had hit someone.

The asylum seeker Hesse In July 2020, he was traveling at night in the Mazda 3 and with three other Iraqis to a holiday apartment in the Netherlands. The passenger had navigation to the accommodation running on his cell phone. While he was driving on the dike road from Monnickendam to Marken, Jamal T. looked at his friend’s cell phone. Suddenly the Mazda drove over something. Jamal T. said he thought it was a rock, an animal or a bump in the road.

Police found body

What the judges are convinced he actually didn’t notice: T. had run over a girl. After an argument with her mother, 14-year-old Tamar ran away from home in anger at night and was out on the streets. Her body was later discovered by the police on the side of the road, along with drag and skid marks.

Jamal T. and his friends stopped in the next parking lot and discovered superficial vehicle damage. The public prosecutor viewed the fact that the quartet then drove back to Germany and not to the holiday apartment as an indication of a possible hit-and-run. However, Jamal T. apparently gave credible assurances that the trip had been canceled because it was “too cold”.

Trijntje Boes, the mother of the deceased girl, left the courtroom in despair after the verdict. She told the De Telegraaf portal: “We are frustrated that this is our constitutional state.” She described the death of her daughter, the fight for the trial and its outcome as a “path of suffering, injustice and unfairness”.

The verdict is not yet final

The public prosecutor’s office had demanded an eight-week prison sentence. He shouldn’t have looked at the navigation system and should have stopped immediately. The defense had pleaded for acquittal, accusing the girl of suicidal intent. The court also considered it likely that Tamer had already been lying on the dark street before the accident, reports De Telegraaf. The defendant also did not look at the cell phone navigation for an unusually long time. The verdict is not yet final. An appeal can be lodged within two weeks.