Man escapes psychiatric institution in Nijmegen, stabs 27-year-old woman in Soest

An escaped prisoner housed at a forensic psychiatry institution escaped the facility on Wednesday, and later stabbed a woman, police said. The 27-year-old from Soest was seriously injured, police said. The 31-year-old escapee was captured a later in the day. It was the second high-profile escape from the facility in less than five months.

It started late in the morning when the prisoner was allowed to take leave with a supervisor. He managed to slip away from the person guarding him and hop into someone else's vehicle, which then fled the area, a spokesperson for the institution, the Pompekliniek, told local media outlets. The identity of the man was not disclosed, and neither was his criminal record.

Then, shortly before 1:30 p.m., police received multiple calls about "a serious incident" that took place in a home on Smitsweg. "Emergency services immediately went to the scene and found a seriously injured woman in the home. She appeared to have been stabbed several times," police said. The suspect fled the scene before officers arrived.

The woman was transported to an area hospital. Her condition was stable, police said four hours after the stabbing.

An investigation then determined that the suspect in the case was the same man who had escaped the Pompekliniek, police continued. A police team specialized in apprehending fugitives mobilized, and worked with other police teams to catch the man. He was taken into custody in the late afternoon in Lansingerland, part of the Bergschenhoek municipality.

This past June, two men who were ordered into the institution's care managed to escape from the Pompekliniek when an associate cut a hole in the fence. The convicts then snuck off into a car waiting nearby.

Luciano D., 24, was ordered to serve five years in prison in addition to mandatory psychiatric treatment in 2021 when he was convicted of an armed robbery. He was taken into custody at a gas station in The Hague about two weeks later.

The other escapee, Sherwin Benshomin W. was convicted in 2019 on two counts of extortion and an armed robbery in which a victim died. He was sentenced to 66 months in prison, and institutionalization. He was still on the run at the end of November.