The Public Prosecution Service demands a prison sentence of 22 years against a 22-year-old woman from Bergen op Zoom for the murder of her father. This is about complicity in a gruesome murder. The suspects acted in a very sophisticated manner, said the public prosecutor, referring to the then-boyfriend of the suspect. The 37-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this year in the same case.
It is March 24, 2023, when a neighbor finds the victim at 21:30 in the rural area of Wouwse Plantage. The body of the 58-year-old man is severely beaten and help is no longer of any use. In the ditch is the daughter of the victim. She looks visibly shaken.
The then 20-year-old woman called 112 herself. She tells the operator about a threat and that she is not sure what happened. The neighbor who saw the victim lying down then takes over the phone call and says he saw someone driving away in a dark-colored Citroën C1. He also mentions part of the license plate.
When the police arrive, the daughter tells an officer that her father was attacked by a man with whom he had an appointment about selling scrap metal. She had stayed in the car because her father insisted. After a dull thud was heard outside, the woman got out and saw her bloodied father lying there. This is her account.
Manhunt
The police begin a manhunt, where the mentioned license plate in combination with the type of vehicle proves invaluable. The trail leads to the home of a then 35-year-old suspect in Bergen op Zoom. A police observation team sees that he threw a bag into an underground garbage container early in the morning after the murder. That bag is – as later revealed – filled with shoes and clothing, including a blood trace from the victim.
After the arrest of the suspect, the police discover that he and the daughter of the victim are acquaintances. Prior to the murder, the two had frequent contact. By phone, via WhatsApp and Snapchat. Intercepted messages show that the two devised a plan to get rid of the father after an argument during carnival. This prompts the police to also arrest the daughter.
The police find more and more digital traces and discover that the daughter searched the internet for texts for obituary ads a few hours before the murder. For images with loving words for a deceased father. Notably, her Facebook post shortly after the murder, in which she writes that she misses her father. Dehumanizing what happened here, said the prosecutor on Monday in her closing arguments.
No Chance
The victim had no chance to defend himself. He was hit multiple times in the head, lay defenseless on the ground, and was then stabbed with a knife.
Investigations cannot definitively establish who attacked and severely beat the victim; the boyfriend, the daughter, or both together. But for the Public Prosecution Service, it is clear that both are responsible for the murder.
The many intercepted chat messages, the reconnaissance of the crime scene, the purchase of a combat knife, and the acquisition of special clothing for the murder prove that there was a premeditated plan. Together they lured the victim to a remote location in Wouwse Plantage, and after the crime, the daughter tried to shield her fleeing boyfriend from witnesses. She also provided little information about the description of the fleeing perpetrator. Meanwhile, she herself played the victim in front of the outside world.
According to the prosecutor, there were enough moments when either of them could have withdrawn. But they did not do that. This plan was theirs together. From beginning to end, said the prosecutor.