Experts who have re-examined the psyche of triple murderer Thijs H. (30) argue that the Brunssumer may not have been in a psychotic state when he stabbed three people to death in May 2019.
Several sources confirm this against L1. The report is at odds with conclusions from previous studies.
Also read: New report: Thijs H. was completely insane
Three victims
On May 4, 2019, Thijs stabbed a woman to death in The Hague, where he was studying. Not much later he returned to his parental home in Brunssum and on May 7 he stabbed two more people to death on the Brunssummerheide. Thijs and his lawyers Serge Weening and Job Knoester state that all this happened in a psychotic state.
Insanity proof
Prior to his trial in Maastricht, the student was examined in the Pieter Baan Center. Experts from that clinic considered Thijs completely insane; the murders could not be blamed on him, according to psychologists and psychiatrists. The judge sentenced him in July 2020 to a prison sentence of eighteen years and a TBS measure.
According to the judge in Maastricht, Thijs had made ‘several rational decisions’ about the murders and he not only exacerbated his psychotic state in order to get a reduced sentence, but also partly caused by drug use.
Same conclusion
Thijs appealed and his lawyers had experts from the Netherlands Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (NIFP) look at the case again. The conclusion was the same: completely insanity. “They see drug use as a symptom, not the starting point of his psychological problems,” explained lawyer Knoester.
strong doubts
However, the Court in Den Bosch also appointed two NIFP researchers. These experts state that psychosis cannot be diagnosed with certainty. If that were possible, this psychosis might have been caused by substance use. In addition, the new experts are critical of previous reports and their preparation.
For example, previous reporters were said to have been guided too much by information that Thijs provided them with and too little research had been carried out.
New battle
Remarkable, since both the second and third reports were drawn up by people from the NIFP. Moreover, it is not the first time that experts in this case clearly disagree. Previously, the Pieter Baan Center and the Mondriaan mental health institution, where Thijs was being treated, were already fierce about each other’s findings. So a new battle of experts erupts.
Also read: Triple murderer Thijs H. in appeal against prison sentence
severe psychosis
The appeal process will take place on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. In the run-up to those hearings, lawyers Knoester and Weening do not want to comment on the contents of the third investigation report. “Weening and I have been convinced since the beginning of this case that there is no other explanation than a very severe psychosis. And that has not changed in the slightest.”
The new report will most likely be discussed during the first day of session on Monday. “And the last word has not yet been said about this report,” Weening said. Lawyer Phil Boonen, who assists relatives, only wants to respond to the new documents once the trial has started.