Suspect in Weiteveen double murders also prosecuted for illegal firearm possession

Richard K., the man accused of killing 44-year-old Ineke Mussche and her husband, 38-year-old Przemyslaw "Sam" Czerniawski, in Weiteveen in January, will also be prosecuted for illegal firearm possession, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said at a pre-trial hearing in this case on Tuesday. He may also be prosecuted for arms trafficking. K. did not attend the hearing, NU.nl reports.

The man confessed to killing the married couple in a long-ongoing feud about a house they bought from him. K. had a firearms permit, but he used illegally acquired weapons for the murders. Last month, the police arrested two people for supplying these weapons. They’ll be prosecuted for arms trafficking in a separate case.

K.s lawyer, Justus Reisinger, considers it unlikely that his client will also be prosecuted for arms trafficking. The lawyer objected to the fact that his client hadn’t been admitted to the Pieter Baan Center for psychiatric evaluation, aimed and determining whether a previous brain injury played a role in the murders. K. was supposed to go to the psychiatric institute in May, but that was postponed until September.

Mussche and Czerniawski were shot dead at their home on January 16 of this year. They had bought the home from K. a year earlier. After moving in, they found several defects, resulting in a long-running and sometimes heated conflict with K. Both sides reported the other to the police multiple times.

On the morning of January 16, K. went to the victims’ home and gunned down Mussche in her car in front of the house. He then went to the house and shot Czerniawski dead, allegedly in the presence of their 12-year-old son. K. then posted a tearful video on social media.

At the first hearing, K. said he regretted the murders.

The next hearing in this case is scheduled for October. The trial against K. is expected to start in February next year.