On the morning of 18 September 2019, Dutch lawyer Derk Wiersum was shot and killed near his home in Amsterdam. At the time of his death, Wiersum was a lawyer for state witness Nabil B. in the Marengo case against the so-called 'Mocro Maffia' led by Ridouan Taghi. The murder caused great shock in the Dutch legal community; it was termed "an attack on the rule of law".
Background
Derk Wiersum started as lawyer of Nabil B. in the Marengo process against the Mocro Maffia allegedly led by Ridouan Taghi in 2017. In the Marengo process, 16 suspects were standing trial for multiple murders and attempted murders between 2015 and 2017. Ridouan Taghi and his henchman Saïd Razzouki were being prosecuted for ordering these murders and for leading a criminal organization. Nabil B. was arrested on 14 January 2017 for prohibited possession of weapons and on 5 September 2017 for his involvement in the murder of Hakim Changachi, who was killed on 12 January 2017. Nabil B. was also suspected of involvement in other murders. Changachi was a good friend of Nabil B. and not the intended target of the attack that resulted in his murder. Because of this, Nabil B. felt guilty and told the family of Changachi about his involvement. Taghi found out about this and put Nabil B. on a death list. Nabil B. felt unsafe and decided to become a state witness in exchange for halving his prison sentence. A week after the announcement of Nabil B. being state witness, on 29 March 2018, his brother Reduan B. was killed by Shurandy 'Andy' S.
Murder
In the morning on 18 September 2019 around 7:40 local time (CEST), Derk Wiersum left his home in the Imstenrade in the Amsterdam neighbourhood Buitenveldert to go to his work by car. When Wiersum stepped in his car, a hoodie-wearing man dressed in black appeared on the driver side of the car. The man tried to shoot twice at Wiersum, but the weapon faltered. The shooter ran away and Wiersum went after him. According to a witness, who was 15 meters from the murder, Wiersum and the shooter had an argument near Wiersum's car. The witness heard Wiersum say words like "piss off" and "goddamnit." The shooter shot again at Wiersum and hit him ten times in the head, neck and upper body. Wiersum died on the scene. The shooter fled the scene and escaped in a white Opel Combo. A second person was waiting in the getaway car.
Victim
Derk Wiersum was born on 30 August 1975 in Amsterdam. He started his legal education with criminal law as a specialization at the University of Groningen in 1995. He was sworn in as a lawyer in 2003. He started his career at Van Gessel Advocaten. After ten years he started a law firm together with Bart Stapert. In 2017 he started working at Blaauw Advocaten. Wiersum started his own law firm in March 2019. He also worked as a deputy judge at the Breda court. In recent years before his death, Wiersum has focused primarily on serious and organized crime. Besides his work as lawyer and judge, he was treasurer for Stichting Rechtshulp Terdoodveroordeelden, a now defunct anti-death penalty organisation that provided international legal assistance to convicts who had been sentenced to death, and he worked as a lawyer for the Dutch & Detained foundation, which provides independent legal advice to Dutch nationals who are detained abroad.
Derk Wiersum was married to Arjette Wiersum, and they had two children together.
Suspects
The police arrested a first male suspect on 1 October 2019 in line for checking in at Schiphol. No details were given about the suspect. It's believed that this man was the driver of the getaway car, which was found in Almere. On the night of 20 November 2019, 26-year-old Anouar Taghi from Maarssen was arrested on a highway. He is a cousin of Ridouan Taghi, and police suspect him to be the organizer of the murder. Anouar Taghi was a member of the Utrecht 'Audi-bende', a gang that robbed ATMs using explosives (a so-called plofkraak), driving away in fast cars with a preference for the brand Audi. In 2016 he was sentenced to four years in prison for such a robbery in Meppen. Anouar Taghi was already under investigation by the police. The criminal investigation department assumes that he led a group of co-suspects who were dealing with stolen cars, used for ram-raiding and plofkraken. Those cars were parked in a warehouse in Utrecht, cleaned and "whipped" (checked for eavesdropping equipment or monitoring beacons).
At the end of April 2020, Anouar Taghi was arrested for his involvement in an attempted murder and for participation in a criminal organization. On 30 October 2019, a 28-year-old man was attacked by three men wearing balaclavas with a sledgehammer in Utrecht. The victim was badly injured, but survived the attack. Taghi was arrested for this attempted murder together with two other men from Utrecht. In addition, the police suspect Taghi of leading a criminal organization of which the two other men arrested are also members. This gang is suspected of facilitating liquidations by stealing cars and reselling them. Sources within the criminal circuit state that the victim of the sledgehammer attack also belonged to the organization, but no longer wanted to cooperate. According to these sources, the suspects wanted to send a signal with the attack. The Volkswagen Transporter, used in the scouting before the murder of Derk Wiersum, was also stolen by someone from this criminal organization.
On 6 January 2020, the OM announced that the man arrested in October is the 36-year-old Giërmo Brown from Almere, he is of Surinamese descent. The OM says he is co-perpetrator of the murder. It's unknown if this means that he is the shooter. Brown is also suspected of observing the victim in the stolen vehicles from 30 August 2019, alone or with others, and the handling of these vehicles from 11 June 2019. When the getaway car, white Opel Combo, was shown on television by the police, Brown bought a plane ticket to Suriname. He never got on the plane as he was arrested at the airport. In 2012, Brown committed two violent robberies together with someone else. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison for these robberies. Brown was also convicted of owning 50 grams of hashish in the prison in Vught in 2015. In 2016, Brown abused an employee of the same prison. Brown has a girlfriend and is a father of six children. He has been assessed as intellectually disabled.
A 31-year-old man was arrested on 27 January 2020. The suspect was later named as Moreno Bieseswar from Rotterdam. He is suspected of co-perpetrating the murder. Bieseswar is intellectually disabled and, according to experts, has a personality disorder with narcissistic traits. He has two children.
Giërmo Brown and Moreno Bieseswar flew together from Paris to Suriname through French Guiana on 28 March 2019. They went back to the Netherlands on 8 May 2019. Both men are suspects in the murders of the 49-years-old Dennis Groenfelt from Utrecht and the 19-years-old Surinamese girl Cadischa Prika in Paramaribo on 6 May 2019. Groenfelt was part of the ‘Moes No Limit’ gang led by Mustapha F., who is a rival of Ridouan Taghi. The OM thinks Groenfelt and Prika were killed on behalf of Taghi.
Investigation
After the murder, the police issued a description of the suspect. They were looking for a man between 20 and 25 years old, with a slender stature, about 1.75 metres tall, and he was dressed in dark clothes. Because the man wore a hoodie, his physical features couldn't be identified. The shooter escaped in a white Opel Combo with false licence plate. A second person was waiting in the getaway car. It's believed that this person was the man arrested on 1 October 2019. The getaway car was stolen in June 2019 in Rotterdam. The police found out that this car was near the house of the victim a day before the murder. The Opel Combo was found in Almere at the house of Brown, it's unknown when the car was found.
The investigation made clear that more vehicles were probably involved in the case. Two days before the murder a grey Volkswagen Transporter, used for disabled transportation, was driving in the neighbourhood where the victim lived for about two hours. This van was stolen on 5 September 2019 in Brunssum, and was found on 23 September 2019 in a parking garage in Amsterdam-Zuidoost with a flat tire. On 24 September 2019, a burnt out Renault Mégane was found in Voorburg. Investigation made clear that this car was stolen in June 2019 in Nieuwegein. The car was spotted multiple times near the house of Wiersum in the end of August 2019.
On 19 November 2019, the police detained two persons for fencing a stolen vehicle used to monitor the victim before the murder. They were released after questioning. The next day, the police arrested Anouar Taghi, a cousin of Ridouan Taghi. In one of the vehicles used in the murder, the police found information that could be linked to Anouar Taghi. He is suspected to be the organizer of the murder. Ridouan Taghi was arrest by the Dubai Police Force on 16 December 2019 in an apartment in Dubai. He was deported to the Netherlands on 18 December 2019. There is no evidence yet that Taghi ordered the murder. He is currently detained in Nieuw Vosseveld.
23-year-old Jerlonny P., also known as rapper Kerron, from Brunssum was arrested for stealing the Volkswagen Transporter and delivering it to Anouar Taghi. As a specialist in car theft, he came into contact with the Mocro Maffia. He incorporates his criminal activities into his rap lyrics.
On 21 October 2020, the police investigated a location in Utrecht in connection to the murder. Investigations showed that on the day of the murder, the executors of the murder sent accomplices to a place in Utrecht for a meeting. Police believe this meeting was a money transfer with representatives of the murder originator.
During an interim session in the case against Anouar Taghi in December 2021 it became clear that Jaouad F. is suspected to have been in contact with Anouar Taghi and others about the preparations for the murder. Jaouad F. from Nieuwegein is another nephew of Ridouan Taghi. F. was arrested in October 2021 in Morocco for his suspected involvement in the Café La Crème lounge shooting in Marrakech in 2017, in which a son of a prominent Moroccan judge was killed.
Trial