Relatives of the two Heerlen victims of triple murder suspect Thijs H. (28) of Brunssum are considering holding the South Limburg mental health institution Mondriaan jointly liable for the deaths of their loved ones.
They want, says their lawyer Phil Boonen, to have access to the full report of the Health and Youth Inspectorate in order to assess whether there was negligence by Mondriaan. The institution does not comment.
Fooled around
The Inspectorate ordered Mondriaan to commission an independent investigation into the institution's treatment of H.. Only part of the investigation report was published. The verdict included that H. was "insufficiently monitored" and appears to have fooled his treatment providers.
The suspect was under treatment at Mondriaan from September 8, 2018 to May 8, 2019. He confessed to stabbing three people to death in early May 2019: a woman in The Hague on May 4 and a man and a woman on Brunssummer Heath on May 7.
Doubts
According to the Pieter Baan Center, he was completely insanity-prone, but the prosecution has doubts about that in part because of suspicious search terms on H.'s computer that the prosecution says indicate feigning psychosis and the use of marijuana that could fuel psychosis.
Attorney Boonen is appealing to the Public Access Act on behalf of the relatives to get the full report made public. "We want to know how the Inspectorate arrived at certain conclusions," he said. The Inspectorate has not yet responded to questions about the WOB request.
When asked if the suspect's parents - who unsuccessfully knocked on Mondriaan's door for help with their confused son in the days before the murders on the Brunssummerheide - and he himself might also be considering holding Mondriaan liable, his lawyer Serge Weening would say nothing. H. confessed last year to stabbing the three hikers to death with a knife and says he acted on "instructions" during a psychosis.
Denied
During the last pro forma hearing before the court in Maastricht on Tuesday it appeared that the parents and sister of Thijs H. invoked their right to refuse to testify as witnesses before the examining magistrate. The prosecution considers it pointless to question them during the substantive hearing later this month in court "in view of their procedural attitude."
Tapped
It became clear that the prosecution had wanted to ask H.'s family questions about wiretaps, among other things. Since his arrest on May 9, 2019, he has been tapped for more than a year. According to the prosecution, he had conversations from prison "with several people," press officer Anneke Rogier said after the hearing. The prosecution does not want to anticipate their content. Weening, whose client was not present, did not want to say anything about it.
Public
During the hearing, officer Joan Holthuis argued for allowing the public back in at the substantive hearing and that, for example, in other courtrooms to follow the proceedings via a video link. "We can go to the terrace again, everything will be relaxed. Let's also make the sessions public again. The public should be able to take note of this case." If space is limited, as far as she is concerned, H.'s family can no longer attend the case shielded in a separate room.
The court is taking the request under advisement and has yet to determine how logistics will be arranged.
