Woman, 93, breaks her back in Amsterdam bag robbery
A 16-year-old and a 30-year-old are suspects in an attack that left the victim with a broken back. Police say the incident has shaken her family, neighbours and many other people.
Police arrested a 16-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man on Friday on suspicion of the violent robbery of a 93-year-old woman in Amsterdam, police said on Monday. The woman broke her back in the attack on the Comeniusstraat.
The attack happened on Tuesday 27 October in Slotervaart, in the Nieuw-West district of Amsterdam, near the Sloterplas lake. The woman was walking along the covered walkway of a block of flats on the Comeniusstraat when an unknown man struck her out of the blue, so hard that she fell, and ran off with her bag. Police say she is doing reasonably well in the circumstances.
The 16-year-old has been released from custody for now but remains a suspect in the case. The 30-year-old is still being held and is due to appear before the court (rechter-commissaris) on Tuesday.
Both suspects are from Amsterdam. Police are investigating what part each of them played in the robbery. Police say the incident has shaken the woman's family, neighbours and many other people.
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