Trial begins for Dutch man who beheaded his mother in Hellevoetsluis

Jesse R., 32, is on trial for the April 16 murder of his 63-year-old mother in her Hellevoetsluis home, in which he decapitated her with an axe. Prosecutors have sought involuntary psychiatric treatment (TBS with compulsory care), stating he was legally insane at the time of the crime.

The victim’s partner discovered the body and saw Jesse R. fleeing in her car. Police arrested him on the A4 near Schiedam. The woman’s severed head and the axe were found on the passenger seat of the car, inside a shopping bag.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, Jesse R. had been experiencing severe psychiatric problems in the months leading up to the killing. He stopped taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication in December 2024, believing his delusions. Experts from the Pieter Baan Centrum, the Dutch justice observation clinic, concluded that Jesse R. was in a psychotic state when he committed the act. The prosecution agrees and has not requested a prison sentence.

During the trial in Dordrecht, Jesse R. said, “What I have done is beyond description. I am sicker than I thought. Every day I live with the awareness that I have taken the life of the woman who gave me life. The worst part is that my mother never got to enjoy her retirement. I will do everything I can to prevent this from happening again.”

He told the court that he had suffered from depression since his youth and psychoses since age 27. He initially followed his medication regimen but experienced severe side effects. “At the end of December 2024, convinced by my delusions, I threw away all my medication. I then stopped taking antipsychotics entirely,” he said. During the murder, he believed he was receiving instructions from Princess Beatrix and purchased an axe as part of what he thought was a required act.

Victim statements were read in court Thursday. Her partner described arriving at the scene: “The tension flared through my stomach, and my first thought was that something terrible had happened. I walked through the hall to the living room and saw a bloodbath. Next to her was a plate with a small pool of blood, and the sandwich she was eating.” He said he initially did not understand that her head was missing, and he tried to comfort her, stroking her ankles and back.

The victim’s other son, Jesse R.’s younger brother, also submitted a statement via his lawyer: “I miss her every day. Sharing meals after work. Exercising together every Monday. Her trust in me. Her care. How can someone be so ill that they live in another reality? How can someone love their mother and still do this? I understand that illness exists. But what happened, I will never understand, and I will never live with it.”