On June 4, 2021, a tragic event forever altered the life of Mike Petronia. His daughter, Sayuri Petronia, was brutally and suddenly murdered at the young age of 19. Since that day, Mike embarked on a difficult journey, seeking justice for his daughter and for all other families and children in Aruba.
Sayuri was a dreamer with a kind heart, always ready to help others. Since childhood, she loved the sea. "Every weekend, she wanted me to take her to the beach. She represented Aruba as part of the Dolphins team. She finished school and barely two weeks after, she started working part-time at a restaurant at the beach. Her goals were to achieve everything and to excel in her life," Mike begins to recount. "I am a father who always goes 'all out' for all my children. With Sayuri, I had a very beautiful and strong relationship. She was my only daughter."
There was nothing that could have indicated to Mike that tragedy was lurking nearby, precisely, just on the other side of the road in front of their own home.
It was 3 o'clock in the early morning of Friday, June 4, 2021. The sound of a phone ringing woke Mike from a deep sleep. On the screen, he saw the name of a familiar person who was a key figure in the victim support department. Reluctantly, he answered the call to hear that 'something' had happened. He couldn't remember the exact words, but he was informed that 'something had happened to Sayuri.' Immediately, his thoughts turned to the possibility of an accident, as she had gone out earlier that night with some friends.
As he stepped out of his house, he began to notice yellow tapes closing off the house across the street. His intention was to walk over and see, and there he was told, "No, Sayuri is not there anymore." To this day, that night remains a dark cloud in Mike's mind. He had the task of informing all his family, including Sayuri's older brother who was studying in Holland, Sayuri's mother, and even her 80-year-old grandmother. "At that moment, everything collapsed."
Mike recalls being among the first families to live on Flamboyanstraat in San Nicolas. Therefore, he knew everyone in the neighborhood, even the 17-year-old who had come to live in the house right next to theirs, the same person now sentenced as the murderer of his daughter. "This young man, Izaak Principaal, was a problematic person, and his family had decided to let him live in the house in front of Sayuri's house. Despite his kind heart, he was helping the young man. He gave him food, something to drink, and even clothes to bathe with. All these actions were out of his kind heart, as Mike recounts. Unfortunately, this act of kindness ended that night when Sayuri arrived home after several calls from the young man to her. Mike went to the house to see what was happening, and in a cruel way, she was fatally shot.
After months of investigation and legal battles, the process was not easy for Mike. But his determination to fight for a harsher punishment for the aggressor resulted in a reduction of the initial sentence. While the first sentence given was 9 years, in the supreme court, it was reduced to 4 years. This was the moment when Mike went to the Public Prosecutor's Office demanding attention to the case, and he succeeded in continuing the case for cassation, which is now the last alternative for fair punishment to be applied. But as he says, fair punishment within what is possible according to our laws today. He is convinced that the laws need to change to provide longer and more suitable justice for victims of violence.
"Our laws are too lenient because if you take a life, it is impossible to get just a few years of punishment and then get your life back."
In my case, my daughter's life was taken from her. I will not get my daughter back. The punishment must be severe for the aggressor. I think that people who take a life from another person innocently, also have to have their life go on but deprived of their freedom. Our laws need to change. This fight is not just for my daughter Sayuri; it is a fight that I will continue for other people in our community. My focus has become justice, a fight that I put on my pain as a father. I did everything a person could do.
I went to Holland and delivered a letter at the time to President Rutte to help me in this, where I received a reply stating in the letter that basically 'the Kingdom of the Netherlands' has no authority in Aruba on a case like this. Therefore, more than ever, I believe that this fight must be in our own home in Aruba itself. Mike thinks that both parents and victims deserve better laws, they deserve justice.
His fight is inspiring, his messages are clarity in the quest for a change in law to protect other families against similar tragedies. His advice to other parents who have gone through something similar is to seek justice and not to remain silent, because every fight is one step closer to a community where justice prevails.
Built with Shorthand