Teen players in court over kicking linesman to death Grieving: The widow and son of linesman Richard van Nieuwenhuizen arrive at court. Photo: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen Seven Dutch teenagers and a father went on trial on Wednesday charged with kicking to death an amateur football linesman last year, a killing that sent shockwaves through the Netherlands. Linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen, 41, was allegedly kicked several times in the head by enraged youth players shortly after the final whistle at an amateur game of under-17 players in December. The linesman died shortly afterwards in hospital, leading to much soul-searching in the football-mad Netherlands, while the teenaged boys and one of their fathers were charged with manslaughter. Died in hospital: Linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen, from his Facebook page. Most of the accused teens' parents were in court, with journalists only allowed to follow proceedings from a video screen next door because of the age of most of the defendants. Prosecutor Joost Zeilstra told the court: "All eight are suspected of being accomplices in Robert Nieuwenhuizen's manslaughter." He was kicked in the head, neck and body, resulting in death. Nieuwenhuizen's widow and one of their sons arrived at the court arm-in-arm, declining to speak to journalists. "This business has really affected the Netherlands because someone was beaten up on a football field, somewhere you normally go to have fun," said prosecution spokeswoman Jetty Bult. In a surprise development, a renowned British pathologist will testify that the victim may have died of other causes, including a spontaneous, fatal tear in his carotid artery, which delivers blood to the brain through the neck. Dutch media said Christopher Milroy, a former chief forensic pathologist in Britain who is now a forensic pathology professor at Ottawa University in Canada, found an anomaly in the artery. The youths and the father named as El-Hasan D, are charged with manslaughter, public violence and brutality. Six youths, aged between 16 and 17 at the time, as well as El-Hasan, have been held in custody pending the hearing while a seventh teenager, aged 15, was freed but faces similar charges.