Debby van der V. (35) from Eindhoven has been sentenced to six years in prison for the attempted murder of her husband, Martie van de Sande (40). She gave her husband a large dose of GHB two or three times last year, but Martie survived each time.
Debby was in a hopeless situation in her relationship with Martie, as desperate messages showed. And she was looking for a solution for her and her two sons (now 8 and 11).
Martie, known as ‘De Witte’, and Debby were seriously addicted. Martie drank all day and used cocaine. Debby also snorted a lot of coke and drank heavily. In fact, she was also under the influence every day and used up to two grams of cocaine every day.
‘Nice guy’
Martie was a nice guy for the first two years of their relationship, from 2013, Debby told the judges during the hearing two weeks ago. But when they had a son in 2015, that changed. Martie was easily angry and suddenly treated her son from a previous relationship differently. Both boys were afraid of him.
Money for food was the least important thing in a relationship, with the little money mainly going to drinks, drugs and cigarettes. Cocaine was the easiest, Debby said, because Martie dealt in it herself.
Planning to divorce
Debby wanted to divorce Martie to give her boys a better life, but Martie wouldn’t let her go, she said. Their relationship went on and off and she suffered mentally as a result. For example, in 2018, Debby was with her mother for a few months, but she still married Martie in 2019. She kept hoping for a better life for her and her boys, but that always turned out to be in vain.
In August 2021, Debby decided it was over and planned to give Martie an overdose of the hard drug GHB. According to Debby, she wanted to wake Martie up. If he got sick from that GHB he might realize he was doing the wrong thing and stop taking drugs.
Knockout
Debby allegedly put three caps of GHB in Martie’s beer three times. One time Martie was actually knocked out and didn’t wake up until nineteen hours later. App messages showed that Debby was disappointed that it always just didn’t work out. For example, she wrote to an acquaintance that Martie really had to ‘knock’ and then she would administer even more GHB through a tube.
Debby has a personality disorder and, according to a report, has reduced accountability. She also wants to start the treatment recommended by experts as soon as possible. Then she wants to resume her life with her two sons, who have lived with her mother for so long.
Still murdered
It is sad that Martie was still murdered in the summer of 2022, but by someone else. He was shot dead in July 2022 by his niece’s stalking ex. He then stayed with her in Kinrooi, Belgium to protect her from her ex.
Martie and his niece were murdered with thirteen to fifteen bullets. The ex died at the beginning of this month by committing suicide in his cell on the niece’s birthday.