Romanian couple sentenced prison for slaughtering sheep in Gelderland

The court in Arnhem has sentenced a 46-year-old Romanian man to a jail sentence of six months for killing and slaughtering two sheep in the meadows in Wilp, Gelderland. His 38-year-old wife was sentenced to five months in prison for helping slaughter the sheep. The sentences imposed by the court on the former residents of Deventer are equal to the Public Prosecution Service’s recommendation, which previously called the massacres gruesome.

Sheep farmers in Aalten, Olst, Wilp, Deventer, Holten, and Bathmen found sheep remains between February 2020 and March 2022. A total of over 20 sheep were allegedly slaughtered, but this criminal case was only about the sheep that were killed in Wilp in July 2020 and the municipality of Deventer in March 2022.

A DNA trace on the leg of a ram left behind in Wilp led the police to the woman. Her DNA was in the data bank after an earlier conviction for theft. According to the court, this proved that the woman was present during the slaughter.

"The sheep was most likely not stunned, and it cannot be otherwise than that this caused the sheep a lot of fear and pain. The slaughter also had a major impact on the sheep farmers," the court stated in its verdict.

Police found 18 pieces of sheep meat in the freezer at the suspect’s house in March 2022. One of the pieces of meat had the same DNA as the remains of a sheep that was killed in Deventer.

The man confessed during police questioning that he had slaughtered two sheep in a meadow. He was also found guilty of the theft of knife sharpeners from a butcher in Kootwijkerbroek. The police found the so-called sharpening steel during the search of his home.

Both suspects were not present in court during the hearing. They are no longer registered in the Netherlands and are untraceable by the prosecution. They both have to pay damages to the owners of the sheep.