An 18-year-old youth who sent messages to his girlfriend via the mobile messaging service, WhatsApp, threatening to "get" Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and was prosecuted as an adult because of the seriousness of the charges, has been sent to jail.
The teenager, who was 17 at the time the death threats were sent in April 2014, said he knew the prime minister cycled from home to his office in the centre of The Hague every morning, and that it would be “a cinch” to attack him en route.
The messages might have been dismissed as testosterone-fuelled bravado, but when armed police searched the youth’s home in the quiet village of Geldrop, east of Eindhoven, they found an unlicensed Walther P22 gas pistol, ammunition and a silencer.
In line with police protocol, Mr Rutte was informed about the threat once it was discovered.
Mysteriously, however, it’s understood that similar death threats were made at the same time by the same youth against a second individual – but that person was not identified, even during the court hearing in Den Bosch in the south of the country.
‘I have a gun’
What the court did hear was that the youth, having promised to “get” Mr Rutte, then said: “I will grab them all. I will grab everyone and finish the whole government . . . ”
Bragging “I have a gun”, he went on: “Soon I will just walk outside and start shooting. I think I’m psychotic. I’m going crazy. I’m going to do what I’ve been planning for months . . . ”
Judges sentenced the youth – who has not been named – to 21 months in jail, 10 months of which were suspended, with three years on probation.
The teenager was the first person convicted and sentenced in the Netherlands for sending threats over WhatsApp, although threats issued over social media in general, typically by users with a younger age profile, are being taken increasingly seriously.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old boy was arrested for threatening a 13-year-old girl, also on WhatsApp. The nature of the threat was not revealed, but police say he was “caught in the act”.
Planned mass shooting
The most high-profile case on Twitter was a 17-year-old who tweeted that he planned a mass shooting copying the Alphen aan den Rijn shopping mall killings in 2011, in which seven people died on a Saturday afternoon. The teenager was jailed for 12 days.
The police have warned that all forms of threats or stalking are considered crimes against personal freedom.
“Threats via social media can appear less serious from the outside, but that’s certainly not the case for those at the receiving end.”
