Prosecutors appeal to demand more jail time in brutal murder of Ukrainian sex worker

Prosecutors have recommended 15 years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment at a TBS facility during an appeal hearing for 37-year-old Sander K., accused of raping and murdering the 34-year-old sex worker Arina Sasina from Amsterdam. After the murder, K. dismembered her body but was arrested before he could get rid of the remains.

The victim, originally from Ukraine, went to K.’s home in IJmuiden on August 22, 2022, for a paid sexual encounter. She was reported missing three days later. Police discovered her dismembered body in K.’s attic. K. had flushed her severed fingertips down the shower drain, fearing his DNA might be detected under her nails.

K. claims the woman suffocated after willingly being tied up with zip ties on a weight bench during sex. The prosecution rejects this account, stating that Sasina was forcibly restrained and raped against her will. They argue she did not die from the zip tie around her neck; K. strangled her.

The prosecution maintains that it is inconceivable that the victim, whom the prosecutor called “a confident sex worker,” voluntarily allowed herself to be tied up. Arina suffered injuries across her body, inflicted shortly before she died. The prosecutor added that K. may have acted in a rage when she refused his sexual demands.

The court handed K. a sentence of ten years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment at a TBS facility in July 2024. This was five years below the sentence recommendation by prosecutors, who, along with the defendant, filed an appeal. The prosecution argues that ten years is too light for crimes of such brutality.

Experts at the Pieter Baan Center (PBC), the judiciary’s observation clinic, identified a personality disorder in K., partly marked by a lack of empathy. At the time, he consumed large amounts of alcohol and frequently viewed violent pornography. K. challenges the findings of the PBC.

During a hearing in January, medical experts clashed; an NFI pathologist concluded strangulation was the likely cause of death, while a defense-hired expert supported the possibility of an accident.

K.’s defense attorney requested that the appellate court acquit him of manslaughter and rape. He argued that K.’s account, in which Sasina’s death was an accident, should be taken seriously. The lawyer emphasized that K. cooperated with police interviews and participated in a crime-scene reconstruction right after his arrest.

The verdict from the Amsterdam Court of Appeal is scheduled for April 9.