Ali A. had just turned 18 when he decided to drive his brand new BMW X1 over double the speed limit, high on anti-dust spray, striking 33-year-old Dutchwoman Elisabeth in Rotterdam.
On Monday, prosecutors said in court that it was just two days after his eighteenth birthday, in March of last year, when Ali A. drove at 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, or 71 mph in a 30 mph zone, with the car which his father had just given him as a gift.
Prosecutors say they want him to be sentenced to eight months in prison and given a five-year driving ban.
Dutch news outlet NOS wrote that Ali A. was weaving his car, driving on the wrong side of the road, and is suspected of having been under the influence of propellant anti-dust spray, a kind of narcotic used by young people.
Video footage shows him overtaking a car at very high speed and barely avoiding an oncoming vehicle. Then, he hit Elisabeth’s car, who was on her way to her hockey club, which led her vehicle to slam directly into a tree.
Doctors tried to save her life but she died that same day. She was fourteen weeks pregnant with her first child, who also died.
The suspect, now 19, offered a different account of the accident in the Rotterdam court. He said he lost control of the car and was trying to avoid other cars, but one of his statements also appears to contradict this claim.
“I didn’t know the car well yet and wanted to test it out. I may have been overambitious and thought I was a better driver, but I couldn’t control it,” he said.
After the collision, Ali A. ended up in the ditch with his car. He claims he thought he was unconscious for a while and was “in terrible shock” after the accident.
The prosecution argues the man was high on anti-dust spray, but Ali strongly denies inhaling any drugs.
However, police have recorded him fleeing the scene of the accident and throwing away two aerosol cans. He claims that if police had discovered the aerosol cans, it would have given them the “wrong impression.”
“I am aware that the spray is used to get high. I was afraid they would suspect me of that if they had found the cans in the car,’ he stated.
When asked why he did not go help Elisabeth, or call emergency services, he said: “I was in shock.”
The prosecutor went on attack, saying that Ali A. is claiming he is too shocked to help Elisabeth or call emergency services but had the presence of mind to run away and toss the two anti-dust cans.
He had recently bought two cans of the spray because he saw — right after coming home from a short foreign birthday trip — that there was some dust on his PlayStation. He claims his plan was only to clean his PlayStation. When asked why he bought two cans, he said he had no idea how much cleaning product was needed.
The prosecutor rejected that explanation.
“I don’t see any shock, I see someone deliberately dumping evidence,” she said.
The attorney representing the family, Anne Bleeker, said that Ali A is, “Thoughtful, cunning, self-centered.”
She added that she does not believe a word of Ali’s story.
Incredibly, the alleged intoxication of Ali cannot be legally proven because the blood sample was destroyed due to a hospital error.
During police interrogations, Ali A. previously said that he could not remember the accident. He said he didn’t notice at all that he had hit someone.
“Temporary amnesia,” he said at the time.
Now, he can remember, he told the judge.
“This is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced,” he said, and added that he was also greatly affected by the accident. That claim was heard with disbelief in the packed courtroom.
When Ali said again during his closing words how much trouble and stress he himself had from the accident, several of Elisabeth’s relatives walked out of the room.
Elisabeth’s partner, mother and brother called on him in their victim statements to take responsibility.
“It is completely disrespectful to us. You say you were in shock after the accident and can’t remember anything. I was also in shock after hearing about the accident, but I can still remember everything exactly,” Elisabeth’s partner said, according to De Telegraaf newspaper.
Her mother said she should not have been in court at all today.
“I should have picked out a present for my grandchild’s first birthday…You drove like crazy. There are too many young people like you. Too much testosterone, too little brain.”
“We were happy to become grandparents again, it was [the other parents of the father] who were preparing to become grandparents for the first time. They had already prepared some old baby clothes,” she added.
Her brother also spoke, saying: “A beautiful vision of the future on a sun-drenched day. It turned into horror in the hospital. We were completely devastated.”
The court will rule in two weeks, on Sept. 28.
Various commentators and political figures are outraged by the case, including Eva Vlaardingerbroek.
“Ali A. (18) hit and killed Elisabeth (33) who was pregnant with her first child. He was driving 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone and was high on laughing gas. The Dutch prosecutor is demanding 8 months in jail. That’s apparently all the life of a Dutch pregnant woman is worth,” she wrote on X.
🇳🇱 Ali A. (18) hit and killed Elisabeth (33) who was pregnant with her first child.
He was driving 115 km/h in a 50 km/h zone and was high on laughing gas.
The Dutch prosecutor is demanding 8 months in jail.
That’s apparently all the life of a Dutch pregnant woman is worth. https://t.co/NSJrCjnG7G
— Eva Vlaardingerbroek (@EvaVlaar) September 15, 2026
