Supreme Court tosses murder conviction

The Supreme Court has nullified the conviction of a man from Venray for the murder of his wife Kathleen Cremers. According to the Court, there is insubstantial evidence to prove that the man committed the crime with premeditated intent. The court in Arnhem-Leeuwarden has to readdress the case.

The same court sentenced Erik E. in 2012 to 18 years in jail for stabbing and killing his wife in 2006. He admitted in 2011 that he stabbed her seventy times with a screwdriver. He also admitted that he beat his wife with a piece of wood and that they fought wrestling on the floor. Another man, who was inside the home at the time, slit her throat. According to the man's lawyer, premeditated murder can't be proven. The Supreme Court is aligning itself with that. According to the Court, the judge had let himself be guided too much by the fact that E. had enough time to make the decision to kill his wife. If the woman was murdered in a spontaneous fit of rage, of if E. had time to plan his steps has not been sufficiently weighted, the Court said. This is the second higher appeal that must be readdressed in this case. From the court of justice, the man first received a 15-year sentence, after which he was cleared by the court. The case needed to be revisited that time because there was not enough motivation for E. to be cleared, according to the Supreme Court. E. subsequently admitted to stabbing his wife.