Date: Wednesday, 28 August 2019
(Photo: Boelo Lubbers)The Public Prosecution Service (OM) blames the man for murder or manslaughter.
The case is special, because the man is not only blamed for killing his 23-year-old wife, but also killing an unborn child. According to Dutch criminal law, there is a life crime (murder or manslaughter) with an unborn child, when it is viable.
That was the case with this victim. The mother was at least 24 weeks pregnant.
According to the OM, the woman is beaten and strangled. This happened on February 27 in the home of the family on the Van der Munniklaan in Leens. The couple had two more children. They were asleep at the time.
The man himself called the emergency services.
The caregivers could no longer do anything for the woman. The man has confessed. The motive is still uncertain. The man has since been examined psychiatrically.
The family is originally from Eritrea and has been living in Leens for several years. The court leaves the entire day on Tuesday to deal with the case.
February this year: research at the home in Leens (Photo: Jos Schuurman / FPS)The woman was more than 24 weeks pregnant. The child was viable. The Public Prosecution Service assumes multiple manslaughter.
The man called the emergency number 112 on the night of 27 to 28 February. The originally Eritrean man said that his wife had died. He asked for an ambulance and police. The agents and emergency services found the body of the woman in the bedroom of their home in Leens.
There was a lot of blood in the room. Two children of two and four years old were sleeping in the next room. The man sat in a dazed bathroom. He acknowledged that he had beaten his wife. The section report showed that the woman died due to lack of oxygen. She was strangled. She was five months pregnant; the child also died.
He could not imagine that he had killed his wife. He saw movements in her stomach when he called the emergency number. He and his wife had a fight. The man heard a conversation between his wife and another man earlier that day. He then concluded that his wife may have had an affair.
That evening he confronted his wife with this conversation in the bedroom. An argument followed which led to a struggle. The woman got a broken nose. The man remembered that he put his hands around the woman's throat.
He has deprived the right of two lives. The children must not only miss their mother, but also their fatherProsecutor
According to the public prosecutor, the man accepted the chance that the woman would die.
The unborn child also died at the hands of the man, the public prosecutor said. "He has deprived the right of two lives. This has caused irreparable suffering and sorrow, including with his own children. The children must not only miss their mother, but also their father, "the officer said.
He lost himself in his anger and could no longer control himselfLawyer Mathieu van Linde
According to a psychiatric examination, no disturbances were found in the suspect. The man has been declared fully accountable. According to lawyer Mathieu van Linde police hearings show that the man was not happy. "He lost himself in his anger and was no longer in control of himself," said the counselor.
The counsel thought the man had no intention of killing the unborn child. According to Van Linde, the man did not know that the fetus could be viable. In both cases he initially requested acquittal.
The Public Prosecution Service asked for compensation for damages of 40,000 euros for both children. With an acquittal, that must be rejected, Van Linde said.
The verdict is in three weeks, on 17 September.
