A man from Bergen op Zoom has received a much less severe sentence at the court in Den Bosch for shooting his then girlfriend Lara. On appeal, he was sentenced to four years and three months. The court in Breda previously sentenced him to twelve years in prison.
The woman was found dead in her apartment on Goudbaard in Bergen op Zoom in September 2018. The victim’s 4-year-old son was also present in the house. According to the court, she had been killed by manslaughter. The court speaks of wrongful death.
Additional research
The perpetrator, Onno R., says it was an accident in which a gun went off when he tried to take it from her. The woman had put the gun to her head moments before. The man wanted to take the weapon from her, but she resisted. He then tried again, and the gun went off. The woman died almost immediately.
The court in Breda did not believe the man’s statement and stated that it was manslaughter. It would have been the man who had shot the woman. On appeal, the court ordered additional research to be able to test the man’s statement.
On the basis of the investigation results, the court concludes that the correctness of the statement of the suspect cannot be refuted. There is no evidence that the man deliberately shot the woman, so the court acquits him of manslaughter. The court does find that the man acted recklessly by visiting the woman while he had a weapon with him. Therefore, culpable homicide could be established.
Compensation of 38,300 euros
This conclusion and the fact that the legal proceedings took so long led the court to impose a lower prison sentence than the court. Onno R. must also pay compensation of a total of 38,300 euros to Lara’s son and mother.
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