Suspect convicted of killing American student Mieke Oort after Tinder obsession
Thomas R. was convicted on Friday in the fatal stabbing of American student Mieke Oort in Leeuwarden. R. was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and will have to submit to additional time undergoing compulsory psychiatric treatment at a TBS institution. The killing of the 21-year-old became known in the Netherlands as the "Tinder Murder."
R., who is now 27 years old and from Leek in Groningen, killed the young woman with a knife in her student residence on the Tweebaksmarkt in the center of Leeuwarden. The two had met in the fall of 2021 through the dating app Tinder. After a few weeks, contact between the two diminished, and Oort entered into a relationship with another man.
R. saw the woman dancing with this man during the early morning hours on Sunday 6 March. The two were enjoying themselves at a house party in Oort's student residence. R. then drove his car back to his hometown of Leek, and returned to Leeuwarden with a large kitchen knife, a hammer and two Molotov cocktails.
After R. threw a petrol bomb against the house, he went inside and stabbed Oort multiple times. Oort's boyfriend was also stabbed and seriously injured. R. has confessed to the violent acts.
The Public Prosecution Service had recommended a prison sentence of twenty years and TBS with compulsory treatment. Like the prosecutor, the court in Leeuwarden found that R. intended to kill Oort that day. He acted deliberately when packing the weaponry in Leek, and afterwards when stabbing both victims in Leeuwarden, according to the verdict. The court said that stabbing her boyfriend qualified as attempted manslaughter, though the Public Prosecution Service had pressed the case that it was an act of attempted murder. The court said that R. was focused on Oort with his plan, in justifying the lesser charge.
The court did not find R.'s defense that he acted spontaneously to be credible. R. stated that he wanted to meet Oort at the door after firebombing the residence just to talk to her. However, R. climbed the drainpipe onto the roof of the flat, smashed the patio door window with the hammer and entered the house. The court said the defendant had enough time to thoughtfully consider what he was doing.
According to psychological experts, R. struggles with an autism spectrum disorder and personality disorder. As a result, he is unable to deal with elevated emotions and has an increased vulnerability to becoming psychologically disturbed in moments of high tension. The court agreed, and ruled R. was somewhat less accountable for his acts due to the disorders, and handed him the 15 year sentence.
Mieke Oort's American family members said through their attorney, Sébas Diekstra, that they are "seriously disappointed with the prison sentence imposed by the court." Diekstra said, "They knew that they could not count on a sentence such as what would be imposed in the United States, but they really cannot live with a sentence of less than 20 years."
