Father stopped taking antipsychotic meds before stabbing Amsterdam boy, 12, to death
The 46-year-old man suspected of killing his 12-year-old son during a psychotic episode late last year had stopped taking his antipsychotic medication two months earlier. That was revealed in the medical experts' evaluation on the man’s mental state, presented on Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in the court case against the Groningen man, AT5 reports. They questioned whether the man should spend even a day in prison when considering the psychiatric diagnosis and the circumstances around the crime.
Suspect Kurt E. reportedly stopped taking his medication because he had become depressed following his father’s death. As a result, he experienced a psychotic episode and killed his 12-year-old son, Gianny-Davey. The violence took place at E.'s home on Blekerslaan in Groningen, during a family visit.
The boy, who lived with his mother in Amsterdam, was only supposed to spend the weekend at his father's residence. He was found dead in that home on December 30, 2024. The man was arrested a day later, as the year drew to a close.
E. was at the hearing before the District Court for Noord-Nederland, and said that he was devastated by his son’s death. “I think what happened is terrible. I wasn’t myself, and I deeply regret it,” the man said in the Groningen courthouse.
According to the experts, E. was completely mentally incompetent and detached from reality when he killed his son. They recommended mandatory psychiatric treatment for the man, instead of prison time.
E.’s lawyer argued that his client received inadequate care in the period leading up to the killing of his son. The court agreed to the lawyer’s request to subject the two experts who wrote the report about E.’s mental state to further questioning during the trial.
The three judges presiding over the trial scheduled it for this winter. The hearing is expected to take place on November 20.
