Prosecutor seeks prison and nursing home for 86-year-old after violent attack on wife

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended two years in prison, with half of the sentence conditionally suspended, against an 86-year-old man from Oud-Alblas, who is accused of attempting to strangle his 84-year-old wife in their home on January 6. The pair had been married for almost 60 years.

The suspect, Jan H., confessed that he grabbed his wife by the throat. “I have never hurt her,” he said during the trial on Tuesday. “I shouldn’t have done it. I keep asking myself: why did I do this? I really don’t know.”

Eventually, the woman was able to fend off the man and get herself to safety. She has made it clear that she never wants to see her husband again. "The trust is irreparably broken," said her lawyer. "She does not want to be confronted anymore with the man who put her life in danger."

According to the victim, she was taken by surprise while sleeping. After pushing the man off of her, she ran to the kitchen, according to her statement. There, H. allegedly grabbed her by the throat again and also grabbed two knives. H. claimed that he stopped the attack on his wife in the bedroom after she screamed.

The police, alerted by the victim, recorded from the suspect that he had tried to strangle his wife because he had lost the will to live and did not want to leave her alone. H. said he could not remember making those statements. “I want to ask for forgiveness for what I have done to my wife,” he said at the end of the hearing.

H. suffers from, among other things, a depressive disorder; there may also be early signs of dementia. Given the mental and physical condition of the suspect, the OM wants him to be placed in a nursing or care facility following his prison sentence, for outpatient treatment under the supervision of probation services. The OM also requested a contact and location ban.

The prosecutor is currently looking for a suitable place in a care facility. H.’s lawyer wants his client to be placed there as soon as one is found.

H. is currently staying at the Penitentiary Psychiatric Center in Scheveningen.