Man faces 12 years in prison for going to studio with plan to kill TV presenter 

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended 12 years in prison and mandatory treatment at a TBS psychiatric facility against Chris T. (42) from Breda in the court in Lelystad on Wednesday for several charges, including attempted murder of TV presenter Tim Hofman. T. entered the BNNVARA building at the media park in Hilversum on the night of September 6 last year with a converted gas pistol and said that he wanted to kill Hofman.

Prosecutors presented five criminal offenses, of which the attempted murder of Hofman and the preparation of the murder of the aid worker were the most important. The public prosecutor considered it proven that T. had also planned the murder of Hofman with a terrorist objective. T. had written a manifesto in which he stated that he wanted to instill fear and dread in society and that "the hunting season" had opened. In his manifesto, T. opposed ideas that could be described as 'left, extreme left, feminist or woke.'

T. sent the manifesto to hundreds of people via Telegram on the day of the attempted murder of Hofman. During the police interrogations, T. allegedly filled in "the definition of terrorist intent" with his explanation of why he wanted to kill Hofman, the public prosecutor said. In his claim, the prosecutor drew a comparison with, among others, Anders Breivik and Mohammed B., who also left a manifesto after committing their crimes. "Of course, this case is different," the prosecutor said. "The big difference is that no one was murdered this time. That was almost different. An aid worker was almost murdered, a journalist was almost murdered."

Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in July 2011. Mohammed B. is serving a life sentence for the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

T. said during the court case that he thinks he would not have been able to go through with killing Hofman. The suspect had said during police questioning that he definitely would have done it, but he now calls it "boasting."

He said he went to Hilversum to "seek the control and find the confrontation" with Hofman. He had argued with his ex-wife that morning. He admitted that he played with the thought of shooting Hofman but that he also had his doubts at the time. "If he had come, I probably would not have been able to do it. I would have gotten an autograph and left. Then I would have seen him for a second."

T. tried using excuses to get Hofman to reception. When that was unsuccessful, he went to the bar around the corner. He wrote a note. “Listen girl, I am Al Qaida. Bring me Tim Hofman; otherwise, I'll shoot you in the head. It's you or him," he wrote on it, the court said. He wanted to show the receptionist a banana and tell her the actual gun was in his bag. He did not go through with this as he felt "sorry for the receptionist."

He returned to the BNNVARA building after cycling hours through Hilversum and the surrounding regions. He felt that there was "no way back," he told the court. Why he then went into the broadcaster's building and said that he had come to shoot and kill Tim Hofman and would wait outside, he does not know. "That is very difficult."

The OM suspects T. of attempted murder of Hofman with a terrorist purpose. The last mentioned was added to the list of charges after an over 400 pagepages' manifest' was found on T.'s computer.

According to the court, the document contains Arabic text and many 'ominous' and 'aggressive' passages. T. explained that he wrote the document in 2022 when he was overstrung at home. He wrote it to "get it off his chest." He called it "largely a fantasy story."

T. Is also suspected of preparing and attempting the murder of an aid worker in Oss last year. He also appeared in court for this on Wednesday in Lelystad.