BREDA Legal psychologist Kim van Oorsouw of Maastricht University has been appointed by the Breda District Court to serve as an expert on the murder, a crime of passion, of Wendy Rikkers of Zevenbergen. She was found dead in her home on the night of Sept. 21-22 last year. Her partner Kees-Jan W. (53) is the prime suspect in the case.
The 53-year-old car dealer, suspected of manslaughter of his wife, discovered on the night of the crime that his 46-year-old wife was having another and wanted to leave him. He caught her in the living room as she was texting with her lover, a janitor at a nearby school. Afterwards, it came to a skirmish. According to sources around the investigation, Rikkers was allegedly strangled and smothered with a pillow.
Kees-Jan W. told investigators that he does not remember killing his wife. "My client says that he woke up in the morning and that his wife was no longer alive then. He finds what happened horrible, does not remember anything about it and constantly asks himself: can I do such a thing?" says W.'s lawyer Francoise Landerloo (photo) to Crimewatcher.
Legal psychologist Van Oorsouw, who specializes in amnesia among other things, is now to assess whether there could indeed be amnesia in the main suspect, who has a clean criminal record, due to what occurred in his detached house during the fatal night. The trial in this matter will begin at a later stage.
