He thinks it’s more than enough after almost forty years, but a 73-year-old man from Eindhoven may remain a TBS’er for the rest of his life. This became clear on Friday afternoon at the court in Den Bosch. It was still irresponsible to let the man go out unaccompanied or to let him live alone, it turned out. He is one of the oldest and longest-serving TBS’s in our country.
At the end of 1984, the Eindhoven resident was sentenced to eight months in prison. It was also made available to the government (tbr). Nowadays this is called TBS, which stands for made available to the state. It made no difference to the man born in Suriname: he had and has lost his freedom.
Schoolgirls abused
According to the court in Den Bosch, at the end of 1984 there was every reason to decide not to let the man return to society for the time being. Earlier that year, he had gone wild with some schoolgirls in his hometown. “They whispered because I am a black man and that is why I got angry,” Eindhovens Dagblad quoted it as saying.
One of the children was hit in the face with a can, others were kicked or punched. Normally you are not admitted to a TBS clinic for this, but the Eindhoven resident was seen as a dangerous man. He had been convicted of similar violent crimes in the past.
Pieter van der Kruijs was his lawyer in 1984 and thought the sentence was too severe. De Bosschenaar is pessimistic about the chances that the man will lose his TBS status. “He is completely hospitalized, he will never leave the clinic.” There is another reason that weighs much more heavily: the chance of recurrence. That is why the public prosecutor and the court want to extend the TBS period by two years.
Over the past decades, the Eindhoven resident has stayed in various institutions, including in Zeeland. Long-term forensic psychiatric care is provided in the former Corridor. He has recently been admitted to the Van der Hoeven Clinic in Amersfoort, where he enjoys a little more freedom.
Tbs’er gets compliments
The court and Nienke de Vos, the Eindhoven resident’s lawyer, complimented the man for his behavior during the hearing: “It’s going pretty well, it’s great how you cooperate.” The obese and graying man didn’t care: “I want to get out of the TBS, it’s enough.” Furthermore, he hardly wanted to say anything and what he said was hardly understandable. His lawyer: “He is done with it. My client is not a talker at all. To no one. To his credit, he exchanged a lot with me before the hearing.”
The man works sixteen hours a week in a bicycle workshop on the grounds of the institution in Amersfoort. Walking to and from this place, a distance of fifty meters, is the only time when no one is near him. Practices are conducted on unaccompanied leave. A practitioner dares to have this expanded, but this has yet to be initiated.
The hope of this expert and that of lawyer De Vos is based on admission to a geriatric psychiatry department of a mental health institution. It’s not that far yet. Let alone that the Eindhoven resident can one day, his fervent wish, lead an independent life. Without treatment or guidance.
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