Prosecutors seek 1-year conditional sentence for taking Vught prison staff hostage
Dutch prosecutors on Monday demanded a one-year conditional prison sentence against Corné H. for taking four staff members hostage at a high-security Vught prison in December 2025.
At the time, H. was staying on the psychiatric ward of Penitentiaire Inrichting Vught while on a waiting list for a forensic psychiatric clinic when he took the staff members hostage. He had previously been convicted for an hours-long hostage-taking at café Petticoat in Ede in March 2024, for which he received a nine-month prison sentence and a TBS treatment order.
During Monday's court hearing, a psychologist who testified described H. as "a man who has no grip on himself and how he comes to this kind of thing." The expert added that H. has autism and hears voices.
H. has now been in a TBS clinic for a month. He is being held in isolation there because of the risk that he could take hostages again.
In court, H. expressed regret and acknowledged the lasting impact of his actions. "It has had a long aftermath for a lot of people," he said.
"I never thought that after Ede something like this would happen again," H. said.
Prosecutors are not seeking an additional TBS order, arguing that H.'s ongoing treatment in the clinic should continue uninterrupted. An unconditional prison term would interfere with that treatment, the prosecution said.
