A 17-year-old youth convicted of being involved in beating up another man in Oosterhout in January this year has been given a lower sentence because footage of the attack was shown on television, news agency ANP reports.

The court in Breda ruled there was no need for local broadcaster Omroep Brabant to show the footage on television because the police already suspected the youth and several others of involvement in the attack.

In addition, police and the justice ministry did not keep to the rules for broadcasting pictures of suspects, ANP quoted the court as saying.

Security camera

The youth, one of five accused of the attack, was given 76 days juvenile detention, 60 suspended, and 75 hours of community service.

The youths were caught on security camera attacking a 25-year-old passerby and the incident was broadcast on a crime-buster television show in February. Four of the youths then turned themselves in to police and the fifth was later arrested.

All five, who are aged 17 and 18, have been remanded in custody for two weeks. They all come from Oosterhout, a town of some 50,000 people north of Breda.

The broadcast followed a similar incident involving a gang of youths attacking a 22-year-old man in Eindhoven which caused an outcry when it was broadcast. That case still has to come to trial.