AMSTERDAM (AP) — Prosecutors urged a Dutch court on Friday to convict Netherlands international Quincy Promes of aggravated assault and sentence him to two years imprisonment for allegedly stabbing his nephew in the knee at a party.
The 31-year-old Promes, who plays for Russian club Spartak Moscow, was not in court in Amsterdam. He denies the charge.
He had initially been charged with attempted murder, attempted manslaughter or aggravated assault. Prosecutors said in a statement Friday that there was insufficient evidence to uphold the attempted murder or attempted manslaughter charges. The prosecutors did not identify Promes by name, in line with Dutch privacy rules.
The stabbing allegedly happened at a family party in a town near Amsterdam in July 2020.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Promes, who has played 50 times for the Netherlands and scored eight goals, was charged after prosecutors who were tapping his phone in an unrelated investigation heard him talk about the stabbing.
“It is not entirely clear what the motive for the stabbing may have been, but it may have to do with the theft of jewelry from an aunt,” prosecutors said.
Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that Promes' lawyer, Robert Malewicz, called for his acquittal. He said that the tapped phone calls could not be used as evidence in the trial and that Promes was not the person who stabbed the victim.
It was not immediately clear when the court would deliver its verdict.
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