Wiel F. and his wife Tiny watched on SBS6 on Sunday evening September 26, 2021 Which of the three† Three people claimed to be bailiffs. The decisive question would soon follow: will the real bailiff stand up?
F. would have preferred to zap away. If he didn’t want to see one profession, it was bailiffs. Especially now that the debts were growing over his head. But his wife Tiny wouldn’t understand switching to another channel just like that. F. walked away to get some nuts. From the kitchen, he heard his partner say, “As long as they never knock on our door.”
According to F. (74), that was the moment that his head made a short circuit, he told the court in Maastricht on Monday. There he stood trial for killing his wife and their dog, on September 26 last year in the Limburg village of Grevenbicht. F., a short, gray man with glasses in a striped sweater, initially told his story without much emotion.
strangulation
F. walked back to the living room that evening and struck from behind the armchair. Strangulation with her own scarf, forensics experts suspected. “It was only when I saw and heard that she was no longer breathing that I realized what I had done.” Why did he then take their dog to the storage room to hang the animal there? “No idea. It would have been better to find an address for that.”
F. was a repeat offender. Exactly 25 years ago he had a debt of about 35,000 euros and he wanted to free himself from all his worries in one go by taking his own life. He estimated that his then wife Johanna would not be able to bear “that damage and shame”. F. therefore strangled her with a tie and then took a cocktail of alcohol and drugs himself. But his employer, who missed his employee, alerted the emergency services, so that F. could be rescued.
The court then sentenced him to eight years in prison for murder. At the time, experts already identified a personality disorder, but treatment was not part of the punishment. Even after that, F. never sought help.
While in detention, he started a relationship with Tiny. Her niece did not have a good word for him on Monday: “My aunt gave him a second chance. She has now had to pay the highest price for that love and goodness. Wheel is one big liar. He doesn’t deserve to return to society.”
F. listened with closed eyes. He clasped his hands in front of his nose, as if he were praying. When the niece was done, he wiped tears from his eyes.
Also read about domestic violence: ‘The problem is huge and affects all layers of society’
Vanity
According to experts, F. was impaired during his act. He suffers from a “mixed personality disorder”. F. has narcissistic traits, has difficulty reaching his emotions. Outwardly, he wants to project the perfect picture at all costs. Why? “Vanity, I think,” he declared during the hearing.
When he was convicted of murder in the 1990s, the risk of recidivism was estimated to be low. F. had learned from his mistakes, would not soon live beyond his means and had experienced that after failure you can still move on.
He was indeed happy about the opportunity to start a new life after prison. But in recent years, financial problems have started to pile up again due to pension setbacks and life too much. Tiny had been to a bank once to discuss the struggles. She never wanted that again. Suppose someone saw them. So F. kept all debts away from his second wife – also because she was already struggling with depressive feelings and the fear that previously diagnosed cervical cancer would come back.
Tiny couldn’t lack for anything. She got that beautiful bag, or the material for her hobby of quilting. F. filled one hole with another. If the butcher’s mincemeat, as she liked to eat, was too expensive, he bought it from the supermarket but packed it in a butcher’s bag. The day before the fatal evening, F. had received a letter from the health insurance company. He threatened with a bailiff.
On Monday, the public prosecutor demanded an unconditional prison sentence of fourteen years and TBS with compulsory treatment. She did, however, ask aloud questions about its meaning. “How realistic is that for a 74-year-old? Is it still treatable?”
The suspect himself hopes that the TBS will provide answers to the questions with which he is struggling: how did it come to this twice? What keeps going wrong in his head?
Experts still see risks of recurrence. F. does say that he no longer wants a relationship, but because of his desire for the perfect picture it could just be that he starts something with a woman after a possible release.
F.’s lawyer argued for acquittal, but with the imposition of mandatory treatment. F. himself apologized during his last word to his own son and Tiny’s next of kin: “Whatever judgment will follow, it is my punishment.”
The court will rule next Friday.