Arnhem man gets 20 years for killing wife when kids were home; Victim stabbed 86 times

A 40-year-old man from Arnhem was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of his wife in August 2022, the court of Gelderland announced on Wednesday. He was accused of stabbing her 86 times while their two children were at home. The man must also compensate the victim's children and family more than 119,000 euros.

According to the court, the victim wanted a divorce, which led the man to suspect she was seeing someone else. The court informed NL Times that although they had initiated divorce proceedings, they were not officially divorced yet and were living apart at the time of the killing.

The man drove to her home on the Tuinstraat in Arnhem on August 18, 2022, armed with a knife he had just bought, according to the prosecutor. He confronted her with his suspicions before stabbing to death in her bedroom. The forensic investigation found that she had been stabbed dozens of times, the OM said. Their two minor children were in the home at the time, and heard their mother scream.

The man told the court he acted impulsively and did not intend to kill her. However, given his actions and statements, the court believed there was a preconceived plan. "The man's actions resemble an extremely violent slaughter," they noted.

The judges declared that the murder caused "indescribable and irreparable suffering" to the children, her family, and friends. "Because of the man's actions, the children essentially lost both of their parents that day," they declared.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was ordered to pay compensation totaling more than 119,000 euros to the children, the victim's parents, and brothers for emotional distress, shock damage, and funeral expenses.

The court also plans to implement a measure to influence his behavior or restrict his freedom upon the man's release, considering it irresponsible from a safety perspective to allow him to return to society after his detention without any supervision. This will be evaluated during the final phase of his detention and any potential parole.

The sentence aligns with the Public Prosecution Service's demands. "This is not merely about the murder of a woman. It concerns the partner's possessiveness, a false sense of superiority," the OM said in court, adding that the suspect was guilty of "femicide."

Femicide generally refers to the killing of a woman or girl, usually by a man, where gender is considered to be a motivating factor in the murder.

Statistics Netherlands recently reported that the number of female murder victims in 2022 increased by 10 to 48 in total. Women are most likely to be killed by their partner or ex, the national statistics office said. Between 2018 and 2022, the partner or ex was the suspect in 60 percent of femicide cases. Female victims are often stabbed or strangled to death in their own homes.