Suspect claims blackout in ex-girlfriend's murder

John F. claims he blacked out when his ex-girlfriend Linda van der Giesen was gunned down in the parking lot of the TweeSteden Hospital in Waalwijk last year. He went there to kill himself, not hurt her, F. told the court in Breda during the first day of his trial on Tuesday, NOS reports.

According to F. he was under great mental pressure at the time of the murder. The 38-year-old man decided that he would kill himself in front of Van der Giesen, an ex-girlfriend he had been fighting with. He claims that it was problems in another relationship that drove him to considering suicide.

F. waited for Van der Giesen in the parking lot of the hospital where she worked as a nurse. When she came walking up, he put the gun to his chin. But instead of trying to stop him, Van der Giesen mad a gesture indicating "do it", F. said. After that, he can't remember anything until he came back to his senses on the highway, the suspect told the court.

An eyewitness tells a different story, according to NOS. According to the witness, F. sped onto the parking lot. He got out of the car with gloves on and gun in hand, walking towards Van der Giesen. He shot three times. One bullet hit her in the shoulder. Another in the head. Other eyewitness testimony also contradict what F. told the court.

Linda van der Giesen was shot and killed in the parking lot of the TweeSteden hospital in Waalwiijk, where she worked as a plastic surgery nurse, on August 10th last year. About two weeks before her murder, Van der Giesen filed charges against F. A few days later she reported that he likely had a firearm. She went back to the police again, two days before she was killed, asking that they intervene. F. turned himself in a day after the murder.

The police didn't intervene. A few days after the murder, the police admitted their error in justice. In May a commission of inquiry came to the same conclusion.