From the bottom of her heart, Juul Engel hopes that her sister’s death has not been in vain. Yke Engel was stabbed to death in October last year. The perpetrator was a man she had just taken in to help. It went completely wrong, because this Izzy P. stabbed her to death with a knife in a psychosis. Juul now wants the authorities to work better together, so that such people are helped more quickly.
Izzy lived with a good friend of Yke’s. And when he got into a fight about the corona rules, Yke offered to come and live with her. She had plenty of room. Since her divorce, her son spent half the time with his father and half the time with her.
But during his stay with Yke it got worse and Yke consulted the GP and warned about Izzy’s condition at the GGZ. Yke (35) and her family sounded the alarm no fewer than twelve times. But nothing was ever done with Izzy (30) by the authorities. During conversations with the crisis service, he could present himself in such a way that little seemed to be going on.
And so he was sent home again. Until, on the morning of October 18, he got delusional and killed Yke with a large knife from the kitchen with dozens of knife wounds. He thought that Yke was fooling him and attacked her in her son’s bedroom, where she was sleeping.
“I want to protect other women from such danger.”
Juul (38), Yke’s older sister, thinks she should do something after her sister’s horrific death. “I don’t want Yke’s death to have been for nothing”, she says shortly after Izzy P. has been given six years in prison and TBS. “For Yke himself it doesn’t matter anymore. I won’t get my sister back with it, but I want to save other women from such danger.”
Juul thinks that Yke’s death could have been prevented if authorities had listened and cooperated better. If Izzy had just been given his meds under supervision, nothing would have happened, she thinks.
Together with Aziza Aboulkacem of the PvdA in Tilburg, she wants to draw the attention of the municipality to the failing care and femicide when women become victims of a man. According to Juul, the municipality of Tilburg should ensure that the authorities work better together. And work needs to be done on the waiting lists, because they are much too long, she knows. Izzy even called the police himself that he was going to kill Yke and her son, Juul told the court.
“After twelve reports, things went wrong and Yke was stabbed to death.”
“Izzy always said that he was okay when he had to have an interview. And then he was allowed to go home. And after twelve reports it went wrong and Yke was stabbed to death.”
When Izzy was allowed to live with Yke and her son Dean (7) in February 2022, there was not much wrong with him. When his mental disorder started to play up again, he also started smoking more and more and that caused him to go into a psychosis.
The court also charged him heavily for this. Izzy had already ended up in a psychosis due to smoking weed and should have known that it could happen again. The judges therefore imposed on him, in addition to a prison sentence of six years, TBS with compulsory treatment. The lawyers had just asked for a milder TBS with conditions.
But the court thinks that Izzy will never get rid of his disorders and if he starts smoking weed again, then he is a great danger to others.
“Yke’s death has left a very big hole.”
Juul Engel thinks that Izzy will not accept this punishment. “I’m sure he will appeal, because he can’t get more punishment than this. He can only go forward on appeal.”
In the meantime, Yke’s family is trying, as good and as bad as possible, to pick up the thread again. “One moment things are going well and the next moment they are not,” says Juul. “It goes up and down, just like the rest of the family. Yke’s death has left a very big hole.”
Juul Engel used her right to speak during the session. In her story read how the 18th of October turned from an ordinary sunny day to her worst nightmare.
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