The defense of Thijs H. points out again in the plea that the man could not have acted deliberately at the death of the three walkers in May of last year because of his severe psychosis. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) argued on Tuesday that H. is not insane and demanded a substantial prison sentence of 24 years in addition to TBS, something that the defense is now challenging.
In the fierce requisitoir of the Public Prosecution Service it was described, among other things, that H. showed certain well-considered actions during his psychosis.
For example, the prosecutors said that he had turned off his phone and that H. deliberately had not selected any young victims. In the hour-long speech, the Public Prosecution Service concluded that the man was not completely insane, but less accountable. This paved the way for demanding a hefty prison sentence.
The lawyers of H., Serge Weening and Joost de Bruin, argue on Wednesday that H. may not have acted deliberately at all. The appointed experts, a psychologist and a psychiatrist from the Pieter Baan Center (PBC), stated at an earlier session that a mental disorder had been observed in H.
This means that the man can plan and make choices, but then “within that very disturbed reality of his psychosis”, De Bruin repeats the experts’ words. On the outside world, these actions may come across as deliberate, while PBC experts have deliberately renounced this term, the defense explains.
‘PBC experts have been able to investigate H. for a long time’
H.’s defense also defends the picture that has been sketched about the PBC’s investigation. According to the OM, this is wrong, because the researchers may have leaned too heavily on the statements of H. and his parents. The prosecutors also found it remarkable that there was no discussion with the practitioners that H. had prior to the stabbings. They saw little or no signs of a psychosis or did not get through to it.
According to De Bruin, however, there is no need to doubt the expertise of the experts. “They were able to investigate H. much longer and they had much more information than the other experts,” he explains. “Moreover, they are forensic experts, which is not the case for the other aid workers.” A forensic expert specializes in investigating the psyche of someone suspected of a crime.
Weening also says that from 2017 there were already concerns about H., who then became skinny and withdrew. In September 2018, his doctor noted that there are signs of a psychosis. The PBC previously mentioned that signs of psychotic behavior were noticed several times in the man’s help process, but that this was not addressed.
‘Parents completely flared by OM’
At the start of the plea, the lawyers briefly returned to the jokes that were handed out by the Public Prosecution Service to, among others, the family of H. “The parents have been flared off completely, while they cannot defend themselves,” said De Bruin.
The case started hours later than planned, because H. was not taken due to a transport error. In the prison of Vught, the wrong suspect was asked to prepare. When this suspect said he did not have to go to court, the transport was canceled.
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