Court orders Ede café hostage-taker to indefinite psychiatric ward, but no prison time

The man who confessed to taking four workers hostage at a café in Ede earlier this year was found guilty by the District Court of Gelderland on Tuesday. However, the court took the man’s mental state and lack of access to adequate mental care into account, convicting him of a lesser crime.

The judges in Zutphen sentenced Corné H., 28, to nine months in prison and mandatory treatment in a TBS psychiatric facility. Due to the risk of recidivism, and based in part on the recommendation from a psychiatric expert, the TBS measure may be extended indefinitely.

Even though the victims were utterly terrified and feared for their lives, a lengthier jail sentence would potentially interfere with H. receiving psychiatric care, and could lead to another violent incident. That said, the jail time ordered was offset by the equivalent amount of time H. spent in pre-trial detention.

The incident made headlines globally as the situation unfolded over the course of a Saturday morning. H. entered Café Petticoat at around 5 a.m. carrying two knives and a backpack. “The man said that he had explosives in his backpack, with which he could blow up the entire street. The man held the four victims against their will in the café for hours,” the court said in its summary of the day.

Three of the victims, employees of the café, were released close to 11:30 a.m. The fourth victim, one of the co-owners, was released about an hour later. H. then gave himself up peacefully. Neither he nor the victims were physically harmed, with the four victims reporting symptoms of serious psychological trauma as a result of the crime.

It was H. himself who ordered the victims to call emergency services to notify them of a hostage situation, which happened at about 5:15 a.m. after he frisked the two male victims and had the female victims frisk each other. H. requested to discuss the situation with a police negotiator.

During a status hearing before the Zutphen judges in July, and with victims and family members present, H. offered an apology for his actions. His defense largely relied on his personal circumstance as a mentally ill individual who has been desperate to get adequate psychological and psychiatric help.

H. has an autism spectrum disorder, a cognitive disorder, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. He has a history of self-harm, quickly getting upset, and then overacting without thinking. “In addition, antisocial, borderline and narcissistic traits are recognized within the personality. Both the autism spectrum disorder and the personality problems are characterized by a lasting nature and were present at the time of the charge,” the court said, citing a report from a psychiatric expert.

The suspect’s attorneys previously said H. spent a long time searching for “appropriate assistance”, but that this failed to materialize. This despite the fact that he was convicted in December 2023 on allegations that he threatened two police officers with a firearm was undergoing treatment at a specialist clinic.

H.’s attorneys said his residential treatment center poorly handled changes to prescription medications. His parents further said that they called authorities during the hostage situation to notify them of behavioral changes that they observed after the prescriptions were changed.

The psychiatric expert noted that previous mental care has been insufficient. “The autism spectrum disorder, the antisocial, borderline and narcissistic traits and the alcohol use probably partly influenced the suspect’s behavioral choices and behavior at the time of the charge. All things considered, the psychiatrist advises that the charge, if proven, be imputed to a lesser extent,” the court wrote.

“The psychiatrist believes that there is a high chance of violent recidivism, both within and outside a controlled environment,” the court said. As such, the judges did not convict the man of hostage-taking, but of the lesser crime of deprivation of liberty. While he could have received up to eight years in prison, the court found the mandatory and indefinite TBS measure to be more crucial than keeping H. in prison longer. The court did note that legally, the crime fit the definition of the more severe charge of hostage-taking.

For the direct and indirect damages caused, he was ordered to pay each victim amounts ranging from 4,800 to 5,200 euros. He was also ordered to pay 1,240 euros in material damages to the café itself.

Further, H. is banned from being in the municipality of Ede for a period of five years, a crucial decision as H. can periodically be granted supervised or unsupervised leave from a TBS facility. Should H. violate the area ban, he may be jailed two weeks per incident, up to a maximum of six months.