A 43-year-old man from Deventer has been sentenced to seven years in prison for shooting a 24-year-old woman from Meppel. The murder attempt was on December 11 last year.
The suspect had an eight-month relationship with the victim. She had ended it three weeks before that evening. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the woman was shot six times in her home by the suspect.
She was hit in the shoulder, neck and head. “It was a real hell,” she said in a victim statement. “You have traumatized me for life. I hope your daughter never falls into the hands of a man like you.” She said she is still reliving the drama. She has also had problems with deafness and brain damage since then.
The woman already had a bad feeling when the man showed up on her doorstep that evening. She said she had tried for some time to make an appointment with the man to collect items and get money back, but he did not respond.
When he wanted to come over, she indicated that she wanted to go to bed. She had put a friend on speakerphone over the phone so she could listen in. According to that witness, a quiet conversation could be heard over the telephone and then explosions followed. She then heard screams from the victim.
“Heartbreaking and it went to the bone,” the judges said about the audio fragment. The suspect said he did not hear it and did not know whether he had hit her. He then allegedly fled.
In the days that followed, he slept in his car and in hotels, after which the police tracked him down after six days. More than 250 grams of the drug MDMA were also found in his car. The night of the shooting, the man was also said to have been under the influence of drugs, alcohol and testosterone.
“You go to your ex’s house with a loaded gun, why?” That is the question the court wanted an answer to. The suspect could not explain it. He said he hoped for a reconciliation, but could not explain why he then took the gun he said he had to protect himself after being threatened in the past
“You shot at a woman standing with her back to you. Not once, but six times,” one of the judges accused him. The man said he couldn’t explain it. “It’s a black page.”
He did say he wanted to know whether she now had someone else. He would also have been hurt by a comment she had made about it. He stated that none of it was his intention. “I am sorry and it is my fault. She is the victim. I must be punished for this.”
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the man from Deventer has slightly reduced accountability due to, among other things, post-traumatic stress, intellectual disability, diabetes and substance addiction.
According to the public prosecutor, the man deliberately wanted to kill the victim. “Half an inch difference could have been fatal. It’s a miracle she’s here today.” According to the Public Prosecution Service, this was attempted manslaughter and not attempted murder, because there was no premeditation. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the man did not shoot immediately and left several times to withdraw money. According to the public prosecutor, there was a ‘trigger’ that ultimately caused the suspect to shoot.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, there was an attempt at femicide, due to the red flags that emerged in the case. This includes jealousy on the part of the suspect and controlling behavior within the relationship. “There were rules and advice about how she should behave and the suspect had a lot of difficulty with her ending the relationship.”
In addition to the prison sentence, the Public Prosecution Service demands a ban on contact with the victim and a behavior-influencing and freedom-restricting measure to keep an eye on the suspect for a longer period of time.
The man’s lawyer also stated that there was no premeditation. Under the influence of strong feelings, he allegedly made the decision to shoot just before this actually happened. She pointed out that her client allegedly aimed at the victim’s arm.
She said her client took an unacceptable risk with the victim’s life, “but with full intent is something different,” she said. She also pointed out that her client was often very compliant and did not exert any coercion on the victim. “There was no prelude to threats and violence.” She argued for a lesser sentence of up to four years.
The court will make its ruling on November 4.