Lucia de Berk, victim of one of the greatest judicial errors in Dutch history, has died. Her former lawyer Stijn Franken confirmed that on Friday evening NRC. De Berk was 63 years old. She died on Thursday afternoon after a short sickbed, which she died was not announced.
In 2003, the Berk was sentenced to a life sentence and TBS for several murders of patients in various hospitals in The Hague. She worked there as a nurse. De Berk was convicted of the murder of seven people and attempted murder of three others. In 2010, De Berk was completely acquitted after a long legal battle. She was incorrectly detained for six and a half years.
Incorrect conviction
One of the unexplained deaths would be poisoning. The death of this patient was incorrectly attributed to the Berk on the basis of a wrong statistical probability calculation. The proven statement with regard to this death then contributed as a ‘switching certificate’ to the conviction for murder and attempts on the other deceased patients.
Science philosopher Ton Derksen, together with his sister, doctor Metta de Noo-Derksen, wrote a book about the case in 2006. In it he expressed doubts about the conviction based on the statistical probability calculation and the use of switching certificate. Public pressure then emerged, after which the case was eventually revised. After her release, De Berk wrote a book about her experiences, Lucia de B: Lifelong in TBS. The book was filmed in 2014.
Her former lawyer Franken mentions De Berk opposite RTL A “special and powerful lady.” “She kept it at willpower, also for her daughter, full in prison. She never complained about it, but she did fight for justice.”
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The Lucia de B. case of ‘his’ Hague court was the greatest judicial error ever. Judge Hans Hofhuis still has no peace with it, he told NRC in 2016