MAASTRICHT - Eighteen years in prison plus tbs with compulsory treatment was demanded yesterday in the Maastricht District Court against "classic contract killer" Harold R. (38) from Heerlen for the "trunk murder" of Ger Douven (51) from Schinveld.His girlfriend Marie-José P. (41) from Opgrimbie, Belgium, who provided the murder weapon and was present at the murder, heard eleven years in prison against her. Professional soldier R. confessed to having shot Douven exactly two years ago - March 12, 2003 - at the behest of Douven's girlfriend Rhonda K (27). He received 13,5000 euros for doing so. "Money was his only motive," said prosecutor P. Bruinen. "He did not know the victim at all. He acted very cold-bloodedly."
He had two firearms with him on the day of the murder. When the first one faltered, he did not panic, but grabbed the second. He shot several times and finally gave Douven a neck shot "because I felt sorry for him." Shortly after the murder, he was deployed as a soldier to Bosnia, where he was known as "very balanced," according to the officer, who doubted R.'s conscientiousness. She asked the court to order that R. - who was arrested in Bosnia in May 2004 - serve two-thirds of his prison sentence before being transferred to a tbs clinic.
The charred body of Ger Douven was found in the trunk of a burned-out car near Puth-Schinnen on March 12, 2003. At the time, Douven, known to be violent, was on probation leave from prison, where he was serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking. He allegedly systematically abused his girlfriend. Rhonda K. came into contact with Harold R. through girlfriend Tiny H. (48) and Tiny's son Roy H. (31). Officer Bruinen yesterday demanded nine years in prison against Roy. His girlfriend Andrea van der K. (24) previously heard demands for four years. On Monday, prosecutors and lawyers will speak in the cases against Rhonda K. and Tiny H. The court will render its verdict March 25.
In the case of prime suspect Harold R., that will likely be an interlocutory judgment. R.'s counsel C. Korvinus assumes that a new psychiatric examination of his client's mental capacity will be ordered. The psychiatrist's report now on the table was slammed by Korvinus. The psychiatrist was heard at this week's hearing, as all the other lawyers also raised major questions about her reports. "Madam impressed me with her incompetence," Korvinus said.
The court was also critical of the psychiatrist's work. The psychiatrist noted that Harold R. has an "anti-social personality with narcissistic traits, a qualification she said used to be summarized by the term psychopath. The disorder is untreatable and the risk of R. committing violence again very high, his concluded.
According to Korvinus, who qualified the claim as being "out of all proportion," shooting Douven to death was not a cold-hearted murder for hire at all. "The fear that the others had of Ger Douven was transferred to R. He treated as a military man: it was 'him or me; ".
