Maarten was stabbed to death in the heart of Zwolle: justice demands tbs and years in prison | Zwolle

They were once good friends. “Like best friends,” Kevin says. The friendship was broken and in recent years there was even a fight between him and Maarten, he explains. He talks about psychological warfare. blackmail; for example, his former boyfriend would be trumpeting that Kevin is a pedophile.

That Friday morning in May last year, everything comes together for Kevin B.. When he opens an email on the laptop at the Salvation Army and again it turns out that he has no prospect of living space, he becomes angry. He says he wants to buy some meat and beers at a supermarket for a barbecue. On the way he walks through the Bitterstraat, where he sees Maarten with a bicycle.

Several witnesses describe what happens next. They see Kevin running straight to Maarten, pulling him off his bike and a moment later stabbing him in the back with a knife. ‘Don’t do it’, a witness hears Maarten shout. It is too late. Kevin B. pulls the knife from his victim and quietly walks away. Very calm, a witness said. While she calls 911, she makes eye contact with the perpetrator. The calm look in his eyes terrifies her.

Kevin himself states that he acted in self-defense. Yes, he had a large chef’s knife in his pocket. But according to him it was Maarten who suddenly had the knife in his hands. “I didn’t know what he was going to do. I could have been dead too. Maarten could also have been here, suspected of the same facts,” he stated in court on Thursday. He only wanted to give the victim ‘a few blows’.

The public prosecutor believes that Kevin was very deliberately looking for Maarten and wanted to kill him. He is said to have already told several people in the weeks before the murder that he ‘wanted to kill someone’. To one acquaintance, who was heard as a witness in the lawsuit, Kevin even stated that he very specifically wanted to stab Maarten to death.

Kevin B. was soon arrested at Park de Wezenlanden after a manhunt. He had been recognized by an officer thanks to photos quickly taken by eyewitnesses. Since that day, B. has been imprisoned. He was observed for weeks by psychologists and psychiatrists in the Pieter Baan Center, but refused all cooperation in their investigation. According to B., they are biased and have no eye for his own circumstances.

As little as he revealed, the experts have heard and seen enough to argue that Kevin had diminished responsibility during the murder. He may have been in a psychosis, which may have been caused by the use of drugs. Because B. has had mental problems since his childhood and is unable to get out of his homeless situation, the doctors are afraid that he could make a mistake again later in a frustrated or angry mood.

That is why tbs with compulsory treatment is advised. The public prosecutor follows this advice and also demands a prison sentence of 7 years. The verdict is on May 26.