WILLEMSTAD – A court in Curaçao has sentenced five individuals for the 2018 murder of Dutch national Mike Venema (53). The main suspect, Suyati M., received a 15-year prison sentence, while the prosecution had demanded 18 years. Eurodis J. was sentenced to 12 years, Shahier P. to seven years, and Ervinella F. to 30 months in prison. Shakir C., who was 16 years old at the time of the crime, received juvenile detention.
Mike Venema was murdered on September 12, 2018, in a residence in the upscale Jan Sofat neighborhood, where a sex party with young women had been organized for him. The suspects assaulted and killed him, placed his body in his pickup truck, and drove to Shut, a remote area on the island's northern coast. There, they let the vehicle, with Venema's body still behind the wheel, roll into the water. A diver discovered the pickup with the remains at the bottom of the sea six months later.
The case saw a breakthrough after the Peter R. de Vries Foundation offered a €100,000 reward over a year ago. Shortly after, the suspects were arrested, some in Curaçao and others in the Netherlands. According to the prosecution, Venema’s final moments were “a living hell”: he was drugged, beaten, run over, and injected with a lethal substance.
The suspects claimed they intended to rob Venema, but the violence used resulted in his death. They have two weeks to appeal the verdict.