Prosecutors suspect 40-year-old man of murdering his Ukrainian ex-partner in Assen

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) suspects a 40-year-old man from Hoogeveen of murdering his 35-year-old ex-partner. She was murdered on October 10, 2024, in Assen.

The body was found in a building on the Lauwers in Assen. The man was also wounded at the scene and was arrested in the hospital. Police received a report that the woman was missing. They started an investigation into this, which led them to the building on the Lauwers where the victim worked as a cleaner. The body was found at 11:15 p.m.

According to the OM, the man also forced the woman to perform sexual acts while threatening her. This also happened in Assen in mid-September. The police investigated this incident after the woman filed a criminal report.

Dagblad van het Noorden reported that the woman is of Ukrainian nationality and had two daughters with the suspect. She fled the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv with her children in 2022, the newspaper reported. The man joined the family at the asylum reception center in Assen at a later stage.

According to other Ukrainians, he struggled with the fact that their relationship seemed over and would bother the woman. This led to a decision being made to send the man to another location in Hoogeveen. He had tried to commit suicide after murdering the woman.

The examining magistrate of the court in Noord-Nederland accepted the serious charges for both the murder and the sexual offense last Monday. This means that the suspicion is strong enough to keep the suspect in pre-trial detention for an extra 14 days.

The suspect had been under restrictions due to the ongoing investigation, but these restrictions have now been lifted. A decision regarding whether his pre-trial detention will be extended will come on October 23, 2024.