An Irishman is in a Dutch jail facing trial following the death of a 14-year-old youth in what appears to have been a row over girls after a pub and disco crawling session.
Mr Michael G. Phelan (30), from Co Laois, was taken into custody in the southern Netherlands town of Sevenum as Dutch doctors fought in vain to save the life of Joepden Mulder, a second-year technical school student.
The Dutch youth, who suffered brain damage and collapsed in a coma after he was allegedly hit by the Irishman in a dispute last Friday, will be buried today in his home town of Sevenum, which is close to the Dutch-German border.
The victim's father, Mr Piet van Mulder, told a local Dutch newspaper after the tragedy: "This was a senseless attack. He was a good kid and with one blow he has been taken from us forever. In a few weeks he would have been going into second year at technical school. He just had his first girlfriend and had everything to live for."
According to police in Sevenum, the attack happened after Mr Phelan and his friend, also Irish, who were seasonal horticultural labourers, walked away from several girls they had been chatting to and a small group of Dutch youths. They had gathered in a street where late-night music cafes drew large numbers of young people.
"As we understand it, there was some kind of misunderstanding. The dead youth, who only spoke a word or two of English, shouted some kind of insult after the Irishman, and he reacted to taunts by coming back up the street and giving him a punch", a police spokeswoman said.
Then the row blew over and everyone went home, but the youth complained of a severe headache to his parents and he was admitted to a local hospital the next morning, where he fell into a coma, suffering serious brain damage. He died of his injuries on Tuesday.
Mr Michael G. Phelan, whose address was given as Co Laois by the Dutch authorities, has been charged with assault and causing death to the youth. He is being held in custody and a decision on whether to release him on bail will be made within the next few days, it is understood.