In June 2010, a man's mummified body was found in a house in the northern Frisian village of Minnertsga. 50-year-old Riens Wolbers had been lying in his room for four years. His four brothers and sisters also lived in the house.
On April 12, 2006, Riens told his family that he wanted to be left alone. He went to his bedroom and lay down on his bed. The next day, one of his brothers brought him a glass of water and told Riens that if he needed anything, he just had to knock on the bed and they would hear him downstairs. But Riens never knocked.
The days passed. Riens' brothers and sisters knew that he couldn't survive without water and food, but they were convinced that God would take care of their brother. Finally four years and two months later, they had to open the door because the housing corporation needed to change the window frames.
A Dutch currrent affairs programme has reconstructed the case and asked why the justice ministry ultimately decided not to prosecute the family.
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The interviewer asked a pertinent question - If one has a strong faith, mea culpa is thrown out the window? Why are these four adults living in the same house together? Do they not have wives, husbands, children, boyfriends, girlfriends etc? When the next one decides to pull a Rip van Winkle will they wait til NAtional Geographic comes to excavate? Why is the prosecutor the singular entity permitted to make this decision?
perhaps dutch people always either give real hearted speech or clear joke,no space to confuse in between. nothing wrong to take both seriously even though it is verbal not written.
Complete madness; those people do not live in a modern world, but in the dark Middle Ages.
I feel sorry for Riens and his brothers and sisters. It seems they have lived an existence completely detached from common sense and reality.
Indeed Ted, much like the burqa wearing Dutch women that you seem to be in support of.
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