Experts question whether triple murderer Thijs H. was in psychotic state

Experts who re-examined triple murderer Thijs H., who was the perpetrator of 2019’s dog park murders, argue that he might not have been in a psychotic state during the murders, 1Limburg reports. This is at odds with previous experts’ conclusions.

Two researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (NIFP), appointed by the court in Den Bosch, said psychosis could not be diagnosed with complete certainty, and that it might have been caused by drug use.

However, previous experts from NIFP and other institutions had concluded the opposite –– that Thijs was in a psychotic state of which drug use was a symptom, not a cause.

These results come as Thijs H. is set to appeal his 18-year prison sentence next week. His lawyers say they have been convinced “since the beginning” that a severe psychosis is the only explanation for the murders. 

In 2019, the now 30-year-old Thijs H. confessed to killing three people while they were walking their dogs in The Hague and Heerlen. All three victims were stabbed to death, some of them dozens of times. Thijs said he believed he had received "messages and signals" from television shows, news reports and even vehicle license plates.

A psychiatrist from the Pieter Baan Center, one of the institutions who diagnosed Thijs with psychosis prior to his trial, previously testified that his apparent psychosis had not been given adequate attention leading up to the killings.