Teen killed by stalker failed by Dutch authorities: Inspectorate

Various Dutch government agencies should have protected 16-year-old Humeyra, who was gunned down by her ex and stalker Bekir E. at her Rotterdam school in December last year. But the danger to the girl was underestimated because the police, Public Prosecution Service, the probation service and the reporting center for domestic violence VeiligThuis were not working together, the Justice and Security Inspectorate concluded after looking into this case.

Humeyra was gunned down at the Rotterdam Designcollege on 18 December 2018. Bekir E., a 31-year-old man she had a brief relationship with in 2017, turned himself in and confessed to her murder. The 16-year-old girl had reported her ex to the police multiple times, filing charges of assault, stalking and threats against him. She had another meeting with the police scheduled for just a few hours after she was shot and killed.

Humeyra did not have a fixed contact person within the police, so she had to tell her story over and over again to officers who did not realize the severity of the threat she was facing, the Inspectorate concluded. Her file was not treated as a stalking case, despite the fact that E. had already been convicted of threatening and assaulting her. At the time of her murder, E. was still on probation and had a restraining order against him.

This was all information available to the various Dutch authorities. But as they did not work together properly, the acute danger to the teenage girl was underestimated, according to the Inspectorate.

"All parties involved must learn from this case. We owe this to Humeyra, her relatives and society", Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said in response to the Inspectorate's report. The authorities must do better in recognizing the needs of victims and recognizing threats when they come forward, the Minister said.

The criminal trial against Bekir E. is still ongoing.