Man accused of threatening Princess Amalia, 16, with rape, murder in court Thursday
A 31-year-old man from Zwolle has been sent for forensic psychiatric observation after threatening to sexually and physically abuse Princess Amalia and her school friend in January. Prosecutors presented details of their case against Wouter G. at a court status hearing on Wednesday.
The former member of the military stands accused of using messages, images and audio on Instagram to threaten to rape the 16-year-old Dutch princess and murder her friend between Jan. 9 and Jan. 14. "Yes girl, there is no escaping it," he wrote in one message.
Together, these messages formed a body of threatening material, the prosecutor asserted to the court.
The defendant, who suffers from schizophrenia, acknowledged creating the messages but said in some circumstances he was unaware that he had actually sent them. His attorney, Joni Eliya, argued that the messages were never meant to be taken seriously, and he deleted some messages within an hour of posting them. She is seeking a full or partial declaration of that he was not culpable for the messages because of his mental state, according to public broadcaster NOS.
"There is no pattern of violence against women with him," Eliya said, according to a court reporter for AD. The newspaper also noted, however, that G. was accused of threatening to kill his sister five years ago.
The man was ordered to the Pieter Baan Center in Utrecht for psychiatric evaluation. His next appearance in court was scheduled for July 23, factoring in delays caused by backlogged cases due to the Covid-19 crisis.
