In the dark living room of Hamza L. there is a ketchup bottle on the table next to a pill box. The ground is full of packages of cigarettes, a can of beer and an open envelope. It is the first time that the curtains in the house have been ajar, says the neighbor. “I think the police did that.” Until this weekend they were always closed.
Hamza L. (29), who is suspected of having stabbed the 11-year-old Sohani this weekend in his street in Nieuwegein, was a “shy” man who led an isolated life for neighbors. If they already saw him, he was hiding under a large hood. His immediate neighbor has never changed a word with him. “He clearly didn’t need that,” she says.
In recent months there were many signals that L. was not doing well. In the week of the stabbing he was shouting on the street in the evening. On Thursday evening around ten o’clock, Iskander Enting (28) took a walk with his dog when he suddenly met him. His dog started barking. L. shouted: “Keep your dog under control!” Enting kept his dog as short as possible and said he had him under control. L. started screaming against his dog: “Sit!”
Then enting turned around and walked away. That guy is just drunk, he thought. But L. started walking after him, faster and faster. It was running until he no longer saw L.. Once at home he called the police with his sister. He did not have the capacity to send someone on it, he was told. If only they had come, ENTING now thinks.
That also says the neighbor who has resuscitated Sohani; She doesn’t want her name to be published. On New Year’s Eve, her daughter called the police three times for suspicious behavior. L. walked on the street with drinks, looked inside cars, made eye contact with her daughter in an intimidating way. The police did not come.
Missing signals
The murder of Sohani raises new questions about dealing with confused persons. Hamza L. was in the picture at all authorities: he was being treated by healthcare institutions, was supervised by the probation service and was discussed at the safety tables. The cabinet now has it figured out whether signals have been missed.
The police warned last month that the signals of confused persons overflow. The number of reports about this has risen to almost 150,000 in the past year. The police spend too much time sorting out all those reports, said police chief Martin Sitalsing, responsible for care and safety, against the NOS. Sitalsing sees a connection between the increase in reports and the “gone” policy to let psychiatric patients live at home as much as possible under supervision. Sitalsing: “People have to stay in their own environment as much as possible. But the assistance is not tailored to the same extent. ”
Menno Soentken, who is conducting research for the Hogeschool Utrecht into dealing with ‘misunderstood behavior’, calls this ‘the ambulantization of care’. “People with psychiatric complaints that were previously included in an institution faster are now being placed in residential areas. That is a policy change with major consequences, “says Soentken. “They are mainly placed in vulnerable neighborhoods, with little social infrastructure. They often end up in isolation. But how do you remember if someone is doing badly if that person doesn’t speak anyone anymore? “
Signals from local residents
Signals from local residents are needed to get a timely insight into worrying behavior, says Soentken. “For that it is necessary for someone to go on those signals to look behind the front door.”
For that reason, all municipalities have set up reporting points in recent years. Residents who are concerned about a neighbor or family member can call this so -called ‘Meldpunt Worgzende Behavior’. “The intention is that all signals come together at one point, so that we can inform the right parties about the situation,” says Siegrid De Putter, associated with such a care report in Zeeland. “As soon as we get a report, we try to make an estimate of the situation,” she says. “Is this person known? Does he already receive care? Which care providers can we draw attention to the situation? In this way we try to tie all the lines together and ensure a suitable intervention. ”
Taking that information is often complicated enough, says De Putter. “We cannot in the police system, so we sometimes do not know who a report is. It is also sometimes difficult to find out where someone is being treated. That information falls under the professional secrecy of care providers. So it must be considered on a case -by -case basis what care providers can share about someone. “
According to Soetken, it is one of the practical barriers that ensure that signals are not always properly followed. “You can pass on notifications, but to get help really off the ground, there must be a good cooperation by all the parties involved with someone. Often someone is in the picture, but it is not clearly agreed who is responsible for which part of the help and supervision. ”
Does pass on?
In Nieuwegein, the neighbors of Hamza L. wonder if it still makes sense to pass on worrying behavior. What should happen before intervention was taken, was the question that came up on Sunday evening during an emotional residents’ meeting in the community center in which Mayor Marijke van Beukering and trauma preparers were also present.
Those emotions are still there, says neighbor -wife Gwen Degener who stood on a few meters from Hamza L. when he was swapped. She didn’t realize anything at that time. He stood in an alley and stared at her with a “dead look.” Until a neighbor shouted “that’s him!” And the police grabbed him. The screams of Sohani’s parents could hear degener from her house. “I still hear it now.”
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