The Public Prosecution Service has requested an acquittal before the court in Arnhem on Monday in the case of the so-called Rosmalense flat murder. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the evidence against suspect Rob B. (64) has not been provided. New, extensive research has undermined the evidence on which B. was convicted years ago. The Arnhem Court of Appeal is reviewing the case on behalf of the Supreme Court.
The victim in the case is 37-year-old Regie van den Hoogen, B’s partner. On the morning of April 10, 2000, he found the woman with a slit throat in the hall of their shared flat in Hintham. B. raised the alarm and was arrested as a suspect the same day. The man has always denied that he did anything to Van den Hoogen. According to him, the woman took her own life.
The District Court and later – on appeal – the Court of Appeal in Den Bosch nevertheless found manslaughter proven and ordered B. TBS with compulsory treatment. The TBS measure ended in 2017.
B.’s conviction relied mainly on expert findings, who concluded that the victim could not have killed herself, but that someone else must have done it.
Both B. and his partner were struggling with psychiatric problems at the time. Whether the victim took his own life is left open to the public prosecutor, because this scenario does not have to be proven. It may also very well be the case that the woman wanted to cut something from her neck, whether or not under the influence of delusions.
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