Court hands 16-year prison term to Amsterdam man for murder of Bulgarian partner

The Amsterdam court has sentenced 51-year-old José van der W. to 16 years in prison for fatally stabbing his girlfriend last May. The 56-year-old Bulgarian woman had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest and back. Police found her body in her apartment on Nieuwendijk in Amsterdam city center after a neighbor reported a possible problem.

Authorities also recovered two broken knives that the suspect had used in the attack. The court called the act “gruesome” and noted that the victim may have survived for a period after being stabbed. “Those final moments of her life must have been terrifying, painful, and full of stress,” the ruling said. The suspect and the victim had been dating for just a few months.

Van der W. spent several hours at the victim’s apartment during the evening hours of May 3, leading into May 4 last year. Investigators discovered multiple traces of blood throughout and around the residence, belonging to both the victim and the suspect. According to a witness, a neighbor heard commotion and, at approximately 2:50 a.m., a scream that was described as “piercing to the bone.”

A handprint in the victim’s blood was found on the washing machine, and a trail of blood led from her apartment to the parking lot where the suspect’s car was located. Blood from the victim was also detected on the gas and brake pedals of the vehicle.

CCTV footage from the area surrounding the victim’s apartment, close to a nearby sauna, confirmed that the suspect was present in the vicinity between 12:30 a.m. and 2:50 a.m.

Van der W. was taken into custody on May 5 last year and has consistently denied the charges. The court described the case as “especially painful” for the victim’s family, who still do not have full clarity about the events. The 16-year prison sentence handed down by the court corresponds to the punishment requested by the Public Prosecution Service.