Man claims self-defense after killing girlfriend in Wassenaar hotel

The 32-year-old man in custody for killing his girlfriend in a hotel room in Wassenaar early this year confessed that he strangled the woman during an argument. The man said it was self-defense because his girlfriend wanted to stab him. "Something may have broken in her neck," Thanassis K. said during the first preliminary hearing in the court in The Hague on Monday.

Hotel staff found the body of 40-year-old Colombian transgender sex worker Briza Garces Florez at around noon on January 3 in a room at the Van der Valk hotel in Wassenaar. The police arrested K. at Schiphol later that day. "It's a nightmare," the suspect said.

According to K., he and his partner got into an argument "over nothing." That eventually led to a fight. "I tried to defend myself. She kept stabbing me with a hotel fork. I had my jacket on, and it had holes in it." He said he took Garches Florez in a chokehold to calm her down. "It was never my intention to kill her. We couldn't live with or without each other. We should have separated much earlier. It got completely out of hand in that hotel room."

During police interrogations, K. insisted that he had no recollection of the days surrounding Garces Florez's death, possibly due to drug use. "I was also supposed to take medication for psychological complaints, but I didn't take it." At the hearing, he unexpectedly gave a statement claiming self-defense. According to K., things have now "surfaced" because he is taking his medication.

The Public Prosecution Service believes that the man killed his girlfriend "premeditated or not by strangling her." It is not yet known when the next hearing will be.