Prosecutor appeals sentence in 1995 rape, murder

The Public Prosecutor filed an appeal in the case surrounding the rape and murder of Nicole van den Hurk in 1995. Earlier this month suspect Jos de G. was found guilty of raping the 15-year-old girl and sentenced to 5 years in prison. But the court acquitted him of killing the Eindoven teen. 

The Public Prosecutor is appealing both the conviction of rape as well as the aquittal of manslaughter, NU.nl reports. According to the Prosecutor, there is enough legal and convincing evidence to prove manslaughter. The Prosecutor believes there is a direct corelation between the two events and is therefore resubmittiing the entire case to the court.

Earlier this month the court ruled that there is enough evidence to prove that Van den Hurk was murdered, but not enough o prove that De G. was the one to do so. The scenario that Nicole was killed by someone else is possible. De G. was therefore acquitted of mansluaghter, a ruling Nicole's family found devastating.

Nicole disappeared while traveling between her grandmother's home and her part time job at a shopping center in Eindhoven in October 1995. Her body was found, raped and murdered, in the woods between Mierlo and Lierop about six weeks later. De G. was arrested in 2014 based on a DNA match.