Children of Peter R. de Vries encapsulated “In case…

“A month and a half later, the grief is still so great,” he continues. “You live, you have to arrange the funeral, even the little things. For example, he had five newspapers, and soon there were about 100 on the carpet. But you also have to make room for grief.”

He tells the story in his father’s office: “At first it was empty in front. The office he could enter at any moment. As if he was on vacation. Now it’s a kind of museum with 40 years of crime history, 40 years of my father’s work. to satisfaction.”

Scale

Talking about the day of the attack: “I was working at home and about 37 Peter Scott called my dad was shot, I’m so shocked to hear something like that. It’s not yet clear how it happened and you go investigate. How bad is it? We started calling crazy, then It soon became clear what really happened. That it is dangerous, the family and partner are informed. Where is he? We heard he was in the hospital and it is dangerous. Then you want to be with him. Masked agents and automatic weapons everywhere. We were in the family room and then no There is still uncertainty about his condition.”

“This time is precious to us. We sat by his bed and spent time with him that week. A week later we got the message that there was no more hope.”

He says Bahr al-Zohour, who grew up near the TV studio where his father was injured, gave the family a lot of support. “The Sea of ​​Flowers has really touched us. It does so much for you when people take the time to bring you flowers, Ajax T-shirts or even currant cakes. It is an emotional place, even though you realize you never want to go there again.”

On the day of the attack, Peter was still at Royce’s house. “I have a picture of him still sitting on my lap with my son. This is of course a very precious picture to me.”

critical

Royce also criticized the crown witness system: “If it had been a sound system from the start in which lawyers could work safely, for example, in my opinion, my father would never have become so close to the crown witness.”

Royce also spoke about the emotional funeral in Carré, where Khaled Kassem was one of the speakers. Kasem worked with Royce at the law firm De Vries en Kasem, where Peter R. also worked, but resigned when he became a confidant of witness Nabil B.

Royce also told about the envelope that Peter’s children had been given in case something happened to him. It seemed to be “ten years walking around with your father’s wishes on practical matters like a funeral,” suggesting that Peter was afraid something might happen to him.