Philosophy student Robbert van D. received 180 hours of community service, 60 hours of which is a conditional sentence, reports the university paper Mare.

The student threatened to shoot people to death at the university via the forum 4Chan. ‘I’m not going to tell you which faculty it will be, that is for you to guess. It is going to happen and afterwards I’m going to kill myself.’

The student was traced back to his computer’s IP address. He was subsequently detained at his student association’s club. Van D confessed immediately.

Dark humour

According to the student, he never actually planned to shoot staff members and students; he just wanted to be a part of the ‘culture of dark humour’ on the forum. The judge did not accept that claim. ‘The suspect even mentioned a specific time and place. Additionally, there was also a shooting a few days earlier in Oregon in the United States with many casualties.’

The Public Prosecutor called for a month of conditional imprisonment and 120 hours of community service. The fact that Van. D. has a mental disorder and is therefore less accountable for his actions was also taken into consideration.

The court accepted the prosecutor’s sentence for community service and added an extra 60 conditional hours. Furthermore, Van D. has to attend rehabilitation, remain in treatment and take his medication.