A 21 year-old Polish man has to spend eleven years in prison for stabbing his roommate to death on Resedastraat in Eindhoven. The sentence was handed down by a judge yesterday (Wednesday).
The incident happened in February last year. The Pole stabbed the victim in the neck, damaging the carotid artery. The victim ran, bleeding, into the street. Four days later he died in the hospital.
According to the judge, there was convincing evidence that the suspect fatally stabbed his roommate. This included eye witness testimonies, laptop data and the fact that the victim’s blood was found on the suspect’s clothing.
The man denied that he had anything to the with the stabbing incident. He claimed that an unknown person came into their house and stabbed the man or that the man became mentally ill and stabbed himself. According to the judge the Pole’s statements are unlikely and that there was sufficient proof that the Pole was responsible for the stabbing death of the victim.
The prosecutor earlier asked for a six-year jail sentence with tbs (terbeschikkingstelling – this legal measure may be imposed on people who commit serious crimes and declared totally or partially ‘incompetent”). The psychologist and psychiatrist could not determine if the suspect had a psychotic break during the incident. The court, therefore, considered the suspect to be fully accountable and did not impose tbs. The judiciary advises that the sentence in cases where tbs is not applicable be ten years. The judge, however, decided that this length of imprisonment did not reflect the seriousness of the crime and therefore imposed a longer sentence.
Source: studio040
Translator: Melinda
