'I'm a father without children, a childless father.' 9News
She is not alone. Seven years later, Sander Essers still feels guilty about the death of his brother. And for Peter van der Meer, Father's Day has become the one of the most horrible days of the year, following the loss of his three daughters aged 12, 10 and 7 in the crash.
"I think probably next to the verdict, it is one of the most important days for the family members, because they can speak to the court, but through speaking to the court, they speak to the suspects and also to the responsible people wherever they are hiding," said Peter Langstraat, a lawyer representing victims' relatives. "So this is a form of communication with the people who are responsible for this disaster.
Van der Steen said she began to have nightmares soon after learning about the death of her relatives, who had been on their way to holidays to Borneo. In her dreams, she walked across fields in Ukraine looking for her father to let him know he had died. "Happily, we received news soon after that a small piece of bone of Neeltje was found and that she, too, was identified," said van der Steen, recalling how shocked she was when presented with the two small bags of bones.Essers said his brother Peter called him about 20 minutes before boarding the plane.
"To the perpetrators, seven years ago, you broke up my family in the worse way imaginable," said Vanessa Rizk, testifying remotely from Australia. Vanessa and her brother James lost their parents in the crash. Prosecutors say the plane was shattered in mid-air when it was hit by a Buk missile system trucked into Ukraine from a Russian military base. Russia denies any involvement in the downing.
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