Mentally ill woman who stabbed people at walk-in clinic in hospital faces two years jail

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) recommended two years in prison and mandatory treatment at a TBS psychiatric facility or a woman accused of stabbing several people in the waiting room of a walk-in clinic in the Sint-Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein. Nadia El H., 31, was tried before a court in Utrecht for the crimes which took place in September 2023.

Her attack was initially aimed at a woman in a wheelchair who stood up and ran away. She fell shortly afterward and passed away after an extensive resuscitation attempt for a so-called embolism, a loose blood clot that blocks the arteries, with fatal consequences.

The suspect had gone to the walk-in clinic after police and paramedics were sent to her home in Zeist. The woman had smashed windows with a hammer and tried to start a fire at the home, presumably in an attempt to take her own life. The ambulance took her to the walk-in clinic as the crisis service did not want to get involved. The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate is investigating this turn of events.

Relatives of the deceased woman (53) are very critical of the events that led to their relative's death. "The state has failed," one of her daughters said in a victim impact statement. "They have literally put a psychopath in the same room as my mother. My mother was murdered because of a series of demonstrable errors."

El H. was lying in the waiting room of the walk-in clinic under a blanket on the couch when the woman came into the room in a wheelchair, accompanied by her son and daughter. After some time, El H. pulled a pocket knife out of her bag and started stabbing at anything around her. The son of the woman in the wheelchair and a security guard who rushed to the scene were injured in the hand.

The question is whether El H.'s attack led to the woman's death. The OM believes it did. There is no question of intent, but "El H.'s actions played a decisive role in the death," said the prosecutor.

According to specialists, El H. is in a psychotic state all the time. She also displayed confused behavior during the court hearing. She tried to convince the court that she was being followed by the 'Mocro Maffia.'

El H.s lawyer strongly criticized the "failings of the emergency services." She thinks her client "has been left to her fate for far too long."

The court will announce its verdict on October 18.