Juvenile detention, psych treatment demanded for 14 y.o. Savannah's murder

The Public Prosecutor demanded two years of juvenile detention and juvenile institutionalized psychiatric treatment against the 17-year-old boy suspected of murdering 14-year-old Savannah Dekker from Bunschoten. That is the maximum sentence that can be imposed on the suspect, who was 16 years old when Savannah was killed, under juvenile criminal law, NOS reports.

Savannah was found dead in a ditch on an industrial estate in June last year, three days after she went missing. The teenager from Den Bosch was arrested a day after her body was found. The two had contact via the internet shortly before her death.

According to the Public Prosecutor, camera images, DNA traces on a soda can and chat conversations show that the boy was near the place where Savannah's body was found on the day that she disappeared. The suspect was also filmed cycling away on Savannah's bicycle. Mud and water traces were found on the pedals of Savannah's bicycle and the boy's clothing. These mud and water traces came from the ditch in which Savannah was found, experts concluded. Some of Savannah's possessions were found in the boy's room.

The cause of Savannah's death could not be determined with certainty, but according to the Public Prosecutor, "nothing else is possible but the suspect being responsible for her death". The Prosecutor considers the boy guilty of murder, because his internet behavior before Savannah's death shows that he intended to do something to the girl.

The boy denies killing Savannah.

The trial is happening behind closed doors, because the suspect is a minor.

Savannah's disappearance and death gripped the hearts of the entire Netherlands population, also because another 14-year-old girl - Romy Nieuwburg from Hoevelaken - was found murdered in a ditch not far away that same weekend. In Romy's case a 14-year-old boy was sentenced to a year of juvenile detention and juvenile institutionalized psychiatric treatment.