Three new butterflies have been placed on the Butterfly Rock in Hoorn in memory of victims of violence. And with that also the last one, because the memorial stone is full. Sumanta Bansi, Eva Veerman and Lydia Knap are the last names on a monument that should never have been there.
Last butterflies on the Butterfly Rock in Hoorn – NH News
It is a loaded day for the Veerman family from Volendam. “It is exactly two years ago today that I found Eva dead in the house,” says her father Johan. The 28-year-old woman was born in 2021 killed by her 34-year-old boyfriend. In prison he committed suicide and the grief is still great. “You never forget it. But you have to try to live with it. We think it’s beautiful that she’s hanging here on the butterfly rock. A beautiful memorial.”
Sumanta
Sumanta Bansi’s mother can relate to this. In 2018, the Surinamese, who studied in the Netherlands, disappeared from the face of the earth. She was only found last year, buried on the edge of an industrial estate in Hoorn. Designated by Manodj B. The man she was staying with and who she was also pregnant with. He had already been convicted before that up to 15 years in prison. He stated on appeal that he had only stabbed her in self-defense. That case is due in July.
Sharmila Nanda and her family could not attend the ceremony themselves. Traveling to the Netherlands is too expensive for them. “I think it’s great that Sumanta will be remembered forever in this way. But it’s also a tough time. Sunday was Mother’s Day, The fifth without Sumanta. For example, she secretly ordered a Mother’s Day cake as a surprise. Then she came up with a poem like “I was only just awake. That all comes up again. It hurts me a lot. Unfortunately I couldn’t be there when the butterfly was placed. But I hope to go there later, when I’m in the Netherlands.”
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Nearly 30 years of unsolved murder
Lydia Knap also got a butterfly. The then 63-year-old woman from Amstelveen was horribly murdered in 1994 killed in her home. A case that has never been solved. Foster daughter Elsa op ‘t Holt has a different emotion than the other surviving relatives. “Of course I still feel the pain, but we are 30 years later.”
It is important to her that her foster mother gets a place on the rock. “Of course I would like the case to be solved. But for me it is more important that it is never forgotten. And it happens this way.”
With the three new butterflies, the rock is also full. “There are 37, a lot,” says initiator Wanda Beemsterboer. Ever created after her daughter Nadine was killed by her ex-boyfriend. “We will continue to take care of the rock. It is a memorial against violence. That function will last for days to come. We guarantee that,” said Jacques Beemsterboer.
Also view the report with Jacques and Wanda Beemsterboer about their story here.
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