The Public Prosecution Service has a prison sentence of 22 years and TBS with compulsory treatment on Tuesday demanded against the Almelo crossbowman Kenzo K. (30). K. is suspected of two murders, attempted murder and threat with a crossbow.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect entered the home of his seventy-year-old neighbor on September 17, 2021. He would have killed her on the couch with nine stabs. Her niece (52), who happened to be visiting, was stabbed seventeen times and found dead in the hallway. A 33-year-old nurse who was also present in the house escaped via the balcony and called the emergency services. She fell from two floors and was seriously injured. K. then shot with a crossbow at the nurse and a police officer, who both survived the incident. The suspect himself was eliminated by a sniper from the Special Interventions Service.
Psychosis and drug use
Via a video link from the prison in Zwolle, the suspect said he did not remember anything of his actions, writes the NOS. “It’s a big black hole. […] I have as many questions as anyone.” According to the Public Prosecution Service, it is plausible that psychoses and drugs played a role in the events in the Almelo flat. Kenzo K. would have fatally injured himself before in a psychotic state and under the influence of drugs. Prior to the murders, he sent messages containing aggressive statements. Notes were found in K.’s house in which he writes about a massacre, the public prosecutor told the court. “That could be a script for what happened on September 17.”
Although specialists advised the court to regard the man as completely insane, the OM thinks that K.’s actions can be held against him. The public prosecutor called behavior resulting from, for example, a psychosis possibly culpable “if the suspect himself played a role in its origin, maintenance or aggravation”. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Kenzo K. continued to use drugs after he had previously behaved very aggressively under the influence. Also because of “the enormous pain and the bottomless grief that the suspect has caused”, a prison sentence in addition to TBS is appropriate, according to the public prosecutor.
The trial against Kenzo K. started in December 2021, but was halted due to the defendant’s poor health. The case resumed this month. The court will rule on December 23.