Psychiatric patient Z. visited his father in ‘s-Gravenzande on 27 July. He refused to let him stay overnight and sent Z. back to the Parnassia mental health institution. The furious son banged on windows and refused to leave. The moment Z. heard sirens approaching from the alarmed police, he tried to escape unseen with his car on a bicycle path along the provincial road. He was driving with fogged windows.
When a police officer next to the police car urged him to stop a few tens of meters away, Z. raced around it at 20 kilometers per hour. The policewoman was able to jump away just in time. Z. then hit the 51-year-old woman’s scooter head-on and briefly dragged her under his front bumper. She died of her injuries three days later.
“The next of kin must live in the knowledge that the victim will never return home. The suspect has this on his conscience because of his reckless traffic behaviour,” the court said on Thursday when announcing the verdict. “A serious level of violation of traffic rules, which greatly endangers the safety of the traffic.”
According to the court, the collision was “recklessness, the worst form of guilt.” Running into the officer was assessed as attempted aggravated assault because of the slow speed.
Due to Z.’s “diseased mental disorder,” who suffers from schizophrenia and an autism spectrum disorder, the judges reduced his accountability for the events. However, because of his psychological problems and the high risk of repetition, he is locked up in a TBS clinic after serving a fifteen-month prison sentence.
The Public Prosecution Service had forcibly requested eighteen months and TBS. The court did accept the requested ten-year driving ban in full.