Groningen cinema stabber sometimes thought he was in Fortnite

Ergun S., a Rotterdam man accused of stabbing a couple to death in a cinema in Groningen last year, appeared in the court in Groningen on Tuesday. He spoke about his mental illness and the delusions he had around the time of the stabbing, including that he was in the game Fortnite, and that he had to protect his daughter from supernatural beings who wanted to abduct her to the North Pole, AD reports.

Ergun S. has schizophrenia and was on medication for the illness, but did not always take it. The expectation is that experts from the Pieter Baan Center will conclude that he was in a psychosis, and therefore not accountable, during the attack in the Pathe cinema last year. Partly because of his mental health issues and drug habit, his relationship with his girlfriend deteriorated. Fearing for their safety, she left, taking their daughter with her.

The man described his mental illness to the court, saying that he went from euphoric to depressed and back. Sometimes he thought that he was in the game Fortnite, he said. "Although I never played that came." He sometimes thought that he was driving a tram in Rotterdam and that "the tram is my friend", he said. "Crazy to say maybe," he said in court, though the judge assured him that "nothing is crazy here".

By the time S. went to Groningen to look for his daughter, his family was very concerned about him, was revealed in court. The man had lost 30 pounds and was not looking good. Mental health service GGZ was planning to admit him for mandatory treatment, according to the newspaper.

He went to Groningen to look for his daughter, he said. He thought he was in telepathic contact with her, that he could help the world, and that world leaders couldn't wait to talk to him, he said. "But those thoughts became more and more fearful. I thought I was being followed," S. said. He had visions of elite troops putting his daughter in danger, and supernatural beings abducting her to the North Pole, he said. 

When S. was arrested, he had wrapped himself in foil "for protection". That was supposed to be his superhero suit, he said, complete with batteries to recharge it. "And I bought laughing gas cartridges to be able to move myself very quickly."

The 34-year-old an was arrested at the end of October 2019, one day after he stabbed Gina and Marnus, 55 and 56 years old, from Slochteren to death in the Pathe cinema in Groningen. The couple had worked there for years as cleaners. 

S. sneaked into the theater after another cleaner left a door open. He was looking for a place to sleep and hid in a closet, he said. When Gina opened it, he attacked her. Marinus came to help, but he too was killed.