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Monday, 2 March 2015 - 14:38
Dutch "Bonnie & Clyde" trial underway
The criminal case against Antonio (Marcos) van der P. and Enise B., the duo that went on a crime spree through the Netherlands last year, began in the court in Assen today, BNR reports. The two were arrested in Schwerte, Germany near Dortmund on February 26th last year.
B. said in court today that she hardly noticed the commotion caused by their violent robbing rampage and the subsequent manhunt by the police. "I once heard something on the radio", B. said "I did not think about it. I did not expect that we were wanted in Germany." Van der P. also called their arrests a "surprise". The court has set four days aside for this case. The ruling will be on April 2nd.
Their violent crime spree began on the night of February 9th last year. Van der P. and B. forced a motorist to stop and locked him in the trunk of his car in Echten, Drenthe near Hoogeveen. Somehow the man managed to escape. On February 10th the duo struck in Meppel, 20 kilometers away. The resident of a house they were burglarizing caught them in the act. She was forced into the trunk of her car, which the criminals stole, and left in a forest in Lelystad that night. Passersby found her the next morning. On February 18th they robbed a house in Lage Mierde, Brabant. The occupant of the house was injured in the robbery. He, along with three others, were gagged and left in the house.
At this point it became clear to the police that they were looking for the same perpetrators in all of these cases - a man and a woman. The police believed that they would strike again and struck the alarm, spreading warnings and descriptions.
On February 24th, Van der P. shot a man on a campsite in Enschede. The man had caught the duo robbing a caravan. They then took a family hostage. The duo took the father of the family with them when they left. He was dropped off in Ahaus, on the border with Germany. At this point the German police joined the manhunt. Two days later, February 26th, a restaurateur recognized the duo from a broadcast on television. He contacted the police, who arrested the two in their hotel room.