Man gets 10 years for fatal stabbing of supermarket worker Antoneta Gjokja
The court sentenced 57-year-old Jamel L. to 10 years in prison with institutionalized psychiatric treatment on Thursday for killing Antoneta Gjokja in an Albert Heijn store in The Hague last June. The man was convicted of murder for the fatal attack on the supermarket employee. The sentence is equal to what the Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded.
L. killed the 36-year-old Romanian woman in the Albert Heijn branch on Tufrmarkt in The Hague on 20 June 2023. He went into the supermarket, asked a shelf stocker where to find a knife, grabbed one, walked up to Gjokja where she was working in the bread department, and stabbed her multiple times.
During the trial, L. said that he did not target Gjokja specifically and didn’t enter the supermarket with the intention to kill anyone. He said that “evil thoughts” came over him and that he acted out of revenge for being arrested after stealing a carton of milk from another Albert Heijn branch.
The police arrested L. shortly after the stabbing. A day later, the OM revealed that he had a “long and extensive” criminal record, including a previous conviction of attempted murder, and was known to have mental health problems.
Experts at the Pieter Baan Center observed L. and concluded that he killed Gokja under the influence of psychosis. They found that he could be held accountable but to a greatly diminished extent. The experts advised the court to sentence L. to compulsory treatment under long-term observation.
Gjokja’s best friend, Elif, described her as “extremely sweet” and an angel. “She still had so many dreams,” Elif said. “She had just completed training as a nail technician. She wanted to do something with that. And she was trying to start a family with Yilli. They had had several IVF treatments. They still wanted so much together. Not only Antoneta’s life was destroyed by the stabbing. Also, Ylli’s and mine.”
