Man faces 20 years in jail, psychiatric treatment for rape and murder of 75-year-old

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has recommended a 20-year prison sentence and TBS (involuntary psychiatric treatment) for 33-year-old Elias M., who is accused of raping and killing 75-year-old Yvonne from Halsteren.

Yvonne’s body was discovered on October 11, 2023, in the ‘t Wasveld forest in her hometown of Halsteren. She had gone for a walk there the previous day with her husband, who left early due to a knee injury. He sounded the alarm when Yvonne failed to come home and remained a suspect for several days. “It felt unreal and unbearable,” he told the court.

According to the OM, she subsequently encountered Elias M., who was then residing in a nearby psychiatric facility. Police arrested him in Amsterdam a few days later after a DNA match. The OM considers it proven that Elias M. killed Yvonne to hide the rape and avoid being caught, qualifying it as manslaughter. He dragged her body off a forest path and covered it with leaves.

The prosecution does not believe M. was psychotic at the time, despite his claims that he was driven by devilish voices. He has only confessed to strangling the victim and refuses to address the rape. Experts assess him as having diminished responsibility, with a very high risk of reoffending.

M. claimed that voices in his head warned him the woman intended to kill him and subject him to sexual acts, and that killing her was, in his view, the only way to stop it.

The suspect strongly rejects the experts’ findings regarding his responsibility. During the hearing, the psychiatrist and psychologist noted that conversations about the voices in M.’s head were challenging, and further questioning was impossible. “He wanted us to assume he was entirely psychotic” and behaved in a “rigid and controlling” manner, they said.

The OM described Yvonne as the victim of “a sexual crime leading to death.” The case, they say, highlights how women’s rights to “move safely” and “walk alone in the forest during daylight” are under serious threat. “Dozens of women are killed by men each year,” the prosecutor stated. “Femicide is deeply embedded in a culture of masculinity and misogyny.”

Because M. has only partially explained the events, he has left the victim’s relatives with many unanswered questions, according to the OM. “The evidence cries out for an explanation, but he has not provided one. The suspect is trying to receive as little punishment as possible for the horrific act he committed.” His statements are considered “unreliable and inconsistent” by the prosecution.

In 2022, M. was convicted of rape in Amsterdam and sentenced to TBS with involuntary psychiatric treatment. That case remains under appeal; in May 2023, the Court of Appeal suspended his pretrial detention, provided he was placed in a semi-open psychiatric unit. The appeal will be heard at the Amsterdam Court of Appeal on January 29.