A stupid traffic argument got terribly out of hand in Halsteren in January this year. Two men got into an argument, after which the girlfriend of one man hit the other motorist with a glass. That man was seriously injured. On Tuesday, justice at the court in Breda therefore demanded four years in prison, six months of which were conditional, for attempted manslaughter.
Kim van H. (30) did not mean it all that way, she told the judges again and again on Tuesday afternoon. The young blonde woman from Bergen op Zoom was very emotional and said she no longer knew exactly what had happened ‘in a haze’ on that Sunday, January 5, around six o’clock in the Dorpsstraat in Halsteren. And she couldn’t explain where that glass came from.
Arguments on the street get out of hand
Images of the stabbing were shown in court to clarify the situation. The later victim could be seen waiting for a parking space and blocking Dorpsstraat. His girlfriend is already in the chip shop and it is busy on this Sunday evening, so a parking spot is not easily available.
Then a car drives up with Kim van H. at the wheel, her four-year-old daughter and her then boyfriend. She honks and the friend gets out to seek redress. The other man also gets out and after some arguing, the man gives Kim’s friend a good blow. It falls backwards over the hood.
In the meantime, Van H. has gotten out of the car and storms towards the man. She hits him with a glittering object, probably a glass. The man backs away, but Van H. goes after him again. The man hits back once, but receives at least five blows with the woman’s glass.
Her boyfriend intervenes, but twice she pulls away to hit the man wildly again. A bystander eventually puts an end to the argument and Kim van H. and her boyfriend run off.
Man seriously injured
The driver was seriously injured and had several cuts on his neck and face. And that could have ended differently, the public prosecutor ruled. She sees the attack as an attempted manslaughter and therefore demands four years in prison.
She rejects the idea of emergency, because it is Kim van H. who approached the man with a glass in her hand, while the man was just walking away.
Also more likely to experience violence in traffic
What does not help Van H. is that in July last year she was also involved in a traffic dispute that resulted in an assault. When she almost hit a woman on a zebra crossing in Bergen op Zoom, the woman hit her car. Van H. got out and chased her into the Praxis.
Images shown in court show how Van H. catches up with the woman and gives her a strong push with both hands. When they are arguing nose to nose, the woman gets a headbutt and a slap. Hardware store staff then intervene.
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‘I didn’t do it right’
Kim van H. says she deeply regrets both traffic disputes. Her life is completely upside down. She was imprisoned for seven months, her boyfriend has run away, her daughter is traumatized because she saw the attack happen and her company has suffered significant damage.
“I didn’t do this right,” she told the judges. She was shocked by the demand, which means that after her pre-trial detention she may again be separated from her now five-year-old daughter for a longer period of time.
Lawyer invokes emergency defense
Van H.’s lawyer believes that both assaults are not too bad. According to him, there is no question of attempted manslaughter in Halsteren. The later victim is said to have first hit Kim’s boyfriend hard, and then to her as well. Only then did Kim defend herself, according to the lawyer. “And that is allowed in such an emergency situation.”
It is difficult that the alleged blow that Van H. allegedly received cannot be seen in the images. The lawyer did not justify the headbutt in the hardware store, but explained it out of the panic of the moment.
Victims demand compensation
Both victims were also present in the courtroom. The woman from the hardware store suffered a nosebleed and swelling and is demanding damages of several hundred euros. The man who was attacked in Halsteren is asking for 8,500 euros because he was unable to work for a long time and is still anxious about the incident.
The public prosecutor called the traffic disputes “senseless violence”, in which strangers are suddenly punched and stabbed. In addition to the prison sentence, she demands that Van H. be treated for her aggression and that she obtain a restraining order against both victims, because they are still afraid of encountering her.
The court will rule in the case on October 28.