Suspect says voice told him to shoot and kill three random men in Rotterdam
The trial against Sendric S., the man suspected of murdering three random men in Rotterdam in December 2024 and January 2025, started on Wednesday. In a near toneless voice, the 25-year-old man told the court how a voice in his head, a “friendly male voice,” told him to kill three people, and then he would get money, AD reports.
S. is on trial for three murders in Rotterdam-IJsselmonde and a near-fatal stabbing in the Rotterdam city center. He has confessed to killing a 63-year-old man on December 21, 2024, a 58-year-old man on December 28, and an 81-year-old man on January 2, 2025. The police arrested him shortly after the third fatal shooting.
S. told the court that he started hearing a new voice in his head in early December 2024. He wasn’t alarmed. He has been hearing voices since his primary school days, he said. The new one was a “friendly male voice” that initially gave him innocent instructions to follow, like washing his hands.
At one point, the voice told him to get a gun, he said. “So that we could earn money.” S. searched for a firearm on Snapchat and made a deal with an Amsterdam seller. On December 20, the day before the first murder, S. received the gun from the seller near a KFC in Rotterdam.
The next day, he left his father’s apartment, where he was staying at the time, at around 9:00 p.m. “I took keys and a gun with me,” he said in court. “The voices told me to do it for money, shoot a random person.” After a few minutes, he passed a 63-year-old local man on Reyerdijk. “‘This is a good person,’ the voices said. Then I turned around, took a few steps, and shot.” The victim died in the hospital a few days later.
While the victim lay dying in the street, S. walked back home. “The voices said: ‘That was good. You did it. And now the next one. But not the same day.’ Then I just went to sleep. I wasn’t exactly happy,” S. said in court.
A week later, on December 28, the voice returned, S. said. That evening, S. left the apartment and walked through IJsselmonde for some time. “I was listening to the voices. I was looking for a person to shoot,” he said. “A man would be better. That’s a little less unfair. And older was better.”
After walking around for about 30 minutes, he crossed paths with a 58-year-old Rotterdam man near Roelantpad. He followed the man for some time, then shot him in the back and head. He fired the last shot as the man lay on the ground. “Just to be sure. So that they die instantly instead of suffering.”
S. hung around to watch what the emergency services would do. Then he walked home. “I went about my daily routine and went to sleep.”
Less than a week later, the voice said it was time again. On the morning of January 2, S. walked past an 81-year-old Rotterdam man in the Bommelerwaard. S. turned around, waited a few seconds, then pulled out his firearm and shot the elderly man in the head.
The police arrested S. at his home that evening. Months later, the police linked him to a near-fatal stabbing in the center of Rotterdam. According to S., voices also told him to attack on that occasion.
The court scheduled two days for the trial. On Wednesday afternoon, experts from the Pieter Baan Center will testify on S.’s mental state. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) will recommend a sentence on Friday.
