Mother of murdered girl wants compensation from Amsterdam, care providers

The mother of a seven-year-old girl who was shot and killed by her father in 2017 wants damage compensation from the municipality of Amsterdam and several youth care institutions. According to the woman, the institutions and municipality as the responsible parties failed with the guidance of the family.

The child's parents separated in 2016. The girl stayed with her mother in Amsterdam and saw her father based on a visitation arrangement. On January 22, 2017, the man shot the girl in his home on the Halfweg in Noord-Holland before committing suicide. The child died of her injuries two days later in the hospital.

According to the woman's lawyer, Richard Korver, various institutions failed in their jobs during this time. "A lot happened before the death of this seven-year-old girl, which the institutions knew about but did nothing to stop," the councilor added. "There was domestic violence, and there were multiple death threats from the father to the mother and daughter, for which he was even convicted shortly before the incident. My client sounded the alarm in vain. This tragedy should never have happened."

The amount of compensation to be claimed has not yet been determined. According to Korver, the woman is only taking legal action years later because previous discussions with the relevant authorities have not yielded any results. In addition, his client has suffered a mental breakdown, and it has taken a long time to recover from that.