Out of self-defense, a 28-year-old man allegedly stabbed the 52-year-old resident of an apartment on Balthasar Floriszstraat in Amsterdam last year. However, according to the Public Prosecution Service, there are no indications that he had to defend himself against an attack from the victim. Today, the Public Prosecution Service demanded fourteen years of imprisonment against the 28-year-old man for manslaughter.
They had only known each other for a few days, the suspect stated to the police. The victim offered him a place to sleep, drugs, and food for payment. On the afternoon of March 10, 2024, the suspect claims he woke up because the victim was attempting to rape him and that the victim attacked him with a pocket knife. The suspect then took the pocket knife away and stabbed the 52-year-old man once in the chest and neck. He then claimed to have left the apartment.
Stab Wounds
An autopsy on the victims body revealed a total of 29 stab wounds. A broken blade was found in the victims heart. The cause of death can be attributed, according to the pathologist, to three stab wounds to the torso. One of the stab wounds penetrated the heart, the left thoracic cavity, and the left lung, while two others penetrated the right thoracic cavity.
The police conducted investigations into the victims bank account details, phone records, and CCTV footage. It was revealed that the suspect had been in the victims apartment in the days leading up to the fatal stabbing incident and that they had made several joint withdrawals. On March 10, 2024, the suspect was seen with injuries to his left hand while coming from the direction of the apartment. In the following hours, he returned to the apartment multiple times.
Friendly and Relaxed
DNA from the suspect was found in several places in the victims apartment, including various blood spatters and blood on different door handles and curtains. The carpet where the victim lay also showed a DNA mixture profile with the suspects DNA. These traces suggest that the suspect was injured during the incident, which corresponds with the fresh wound on his hand that was visible in footage from the afternoon of March 10, 2024.
The suspects claim of self-defense must be rejected by the court, according to the prosecutor. The prosecutor asserts that it is clear that the suspect remained in the company of the victim the entire time. “In various images, including from the withdrawal transactions, there is no indication of fear or aggression. The atmosphere between the two appears friendly and relaxed. If the suspect was indeed so afraid that he felt the need to carry a knife, the question arises as to why he did not leave the apartment,” said the prosecutor.
Furthermore, the suspect gives varying accounts of what happened and invokes his right to remain silent on crucial questions. Based on the case file, it cannot be assumed that there was an attempted rape or an attack with a knife, concludes the prosecutor. “That makes a claim of self-defense untenable.”
The court will deliver its ruling in the week of March 11.