Woman spent weeks preparing to kill her father with friend’s help, prosecutors claim

Prosecutors alleged in court on Tuesday that 20-year-old Dalissa H. and an acquaintance of hers spent a month preparing the March 24 murder of her father, Gradus Haisch. The 58-year-old was killed in Wouwse Plantage, Noord-Brabant.

Dalissa H. and Jeroen L., 35, already traded text messages with each other a month before the murder following a fight during a Carnival celebration, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said. An update on the case was presented for the first time on Tuesday during a hearing at a courtroom in Breda.

Haisch was stabbed to death at a dilapidated farmhouse. The police and other emergency services raced to the scene after receiving a tip, and tried in vain to rescue the man.

L. was arrested one day after the death of the pigeon breeder. The daughter was arrested a week later. Only Jeroen L. was present in court on Tuesday. The woman was represented by her lawyer.

"If I have to go to jail, it's worth everything to me,” wrote Dalissa H. in a message on WhatsApp that was sent to her co-defendant on Carnival Tuesday. Investigators suspect the man of actually inflicting the fatal stab wounds in front of H. Jeroen L. then threw the victim's blood-soaked clothing into the underground waste container at his house, prosecutors alleged.

The police found 1,290 deleted chat messages with Jeroen L. on the daughter's phone. In addition, they called each other repeatedly on the day of the murder. The prosecutor did not offer up a reason for a possible argument between the defendants during the court hearing.

The suspects will remain in custody until at least September 14, when the court proceedings will continue.