The Public Prosecution Service demanded Wednesday ten years in prison and compulsory treatment order (TBS) with compulsory care against 24-year-old Arnold O. He stabbed his 22-year-old girlfriend 258 times in her home in Zoetermeer last year, in the presence of their two-week-old baby.
“A gruesome drama,” is how the public prosecutor described the violent death of the woman on July 18, 2024 in her home on the Weidedreef in Zoetermeer. Experts conclude that “he stabbed the victim wildly.” Officers arrested the man shortly after the extreme violence at the house.
During the stabbing, O. filmed the mortally wounded woman with her own phone. He then took a selfie of himself and the baby, who remained unharmed. O. took that photo because he would not see the baby for a long time, he stated.
At the time of the selfie, the police were already at the door. A nurse from the consultation center, who had an appointment with the victim at that time, had raised the alarm.
O. stated that he cannot remember anything of the violence. “It was black before my eyes,” he said several times to the court of The Hague. He says that they had argued about the baby before the violence.
Suspect had been previously convicted of assault
The couple’s relationship was bad: the suspect accused his girlfriend of cheating. According to the public prosecutor, nothing points to this. “It was in his head, it was a delusion.”
O. had previously been convicted of assaulting the deadly victim. The victim had written about the earlier violence in a notebook. O. had just been released from a ninety-day prison sentence a month earlier.
Her family was very concerned about the poor relationship. They were about to house her with family in Belgium. The suspect and the victim already lived separately.
According to experts, O. suffers from several disorders. As a result, the risk of recurrence is high. The Public Prosecution Service has taken this conclusion into account in the sentence demand.
The court will pronounce judgment on July 30.