Forced abortion: Diemen man faces 16 years in jail for Brazilian girlfriend’s death

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended 16 years in prison and mandatory treatment in a TBS psychiatric facility against 52-year-old Dennis van E. for the murder of his unborn child and the fatal abuse of his girlfriend, the mother of the boy, by forcing her to endure a dangerous home abortion method.

The victim, 32-year-old Patricia Oliveira dos Santos from Brazil, was put under significant pressure to abort the child. Van E. apparently did not want a boy. The victim took several abortion pills ordered off the internet, along with cocaine and MDMA, and drank alcohol in October 2019.

The OM believes that Van E. made her do this. The woman bled to death in Van E.'s home in Diemen after her uterus ruptured. The child also passed away. The victim was 32 to 37 weeks pregnant. The amount of MDMA that was taken also possibly played a part in the fatal ending. The baby was viable, said the OM. "The situation in the home must have been a blood bath," the OM added.

"It is downright shocking how the suspect has worked toward the end goal," the prosecutor said. The OM believes this can be seen from hundreds of messages that Van E. and his girlfriend sent to each other prior to the abortion. The prosecutor added that Van E imposed his will in a very humiliating way. "And his will was that the child had to die." The messages contain threats and extreme plans of Van E. to perform the abortion with his own hands.

The suspect reported to the police a day after the events, who considered him a suspect. The man is not taking any responsibility for what happened. He said that the initiative for the abortion was wholly the victim's idea.

Van E. met Oliviera dos Santos in the Brazilian coastal town of Fortaleza. He went there on vacation for years; she lived in poverty there and was a sex worker. The prosecutor said that the suspect took advantage of her vulnerable position and took her away from her known environment to the Netherlands in September 2019.

Van E. has mainly not cooperated with the psychological research into him. Still, the OM said there is enough evidence to prove that he has a personality disorder, and he has to be treated in a TBS facility after his jail sentence mainly because the chances of repeated behavior are high.

The suspect would not answer any questions from prosecutors in the case hearing.