“YouTuber Acid Exposes Reuzegommers Involved in Sanda Dia’s Death”

Acid – real name Nathan Vandergunst – has 527,000 subscribers on YouTube, but anyone can watch his videos. The one about the Reuzegommers was played 54,000 times in four hours.

In his new video, Acid says that the community service and fines that the suspects in the Sanda Dia case received are not enough and that he wants to “cancel” them. He also wants to show their influential parents. Remarkable: at the beginning of the video he shows three governors who have nothing to do with the case and politicians such as Bart Tommelein and Jean-Marie Dedecker.

“The media is (sic) afraid of them. Not me. I’m going to pick five people from Reuzegom and give a little info about them, tell stories about them, tell them how dark they are, what they’re doing now, where they are now and how their lives are going. Because 400 euros and 300 hours of community service is not enough.”

He then gives his ‘Top 5 Reuzegommers’. In the end he only names four, including the two who played a leading role during Sanda Dia’s fatal baptism: Zaadje and Janker. He also explains what their parents do exactly. The two others he names had nothing to do with the case.

Acid also shares a group photo of the Reuzegommers where everyone is recognizable and is mentioned by name.

The lawyers of the Reuzegommers react to the video with astonishment. Master Joris Van Cauter – who performed for Remorke – calls it a witch hunt. “This is an escalation of a number of people taking the law into their own hands,” he told HLN. “You can criticize the judgment. You will always have supporters and opponents in the administration of justice and the judge can never do good for everyone. But many people feel compelled to call without full knowledge of the matter. There is an urgent need to put a stop to these kinds of messages. So that those people are also treated fairly.”

Kris Luyckx, lawyer for the two students who survived the baptism, also reacts critically to our colleagues from ‘De Morgen’. “This is just looking for attention on the hood of others,” it sounds. “If Acid wants to play judge himself, he should know that. But there has already been a decision from the court.”

There may be a judicial tail, because slander and defamation carry hefty penalties. Whether that will happen will depend, according to Luyckx, on the aforementioned Reuzegommers: will they take legal action or not?

Walter Damen, counsel for ‘shit fly’ who was not featured in the video in question, wonders in which society we want to end up: “What he is doing is not allowed”, Damen responds. “But people are now asking all the time whether we, as lawyers of those involved, are going to respond, but the Public Prosecution Service can also respond to this itself, right? They can open a criminal investigation. It is about invasion of privacy and harassment. Moreover, Acid’s information gathering is not correct. The fact that he feels called upon to judge without knowledge of the file and to speak on behalf of society is a step too far and it is then up to the Public Prosecution Service to respond. It has become a kind of witch hunt, rationality is disappearing,” says Damen.

Sanda Dia died in 2018 at a student baptism that got out of hand. Eighteen defendants, all members of student club Reuzegom, were found guilty of accidental death, degrading treatment and violations of the animal welfare law. They were sentenced to community service of up to 300 hours and a fine of 400 euros.

OVERVIEW. What punishments did the Giant Gommers receive for the fatal baptism of Sanda Dia? (+)

Brother and sister-in-law Sanda Dia respond to verdict: “Community service confronts Reuzegommers in daily life with what they have done”

LOOK. Acid does not shy away from controversy