Axe murderer receives longer sentence on appeal

DEN BOSCH – A Den Bosch court hearing an appeal of an American man who killed a student with an axe at a railway station has increased the sentenced handed.

The appeal court imposed a prison sentence of 20 years plus forced psychiatric treatment for an unspecified period (TBS) on the ex-soldier who killed a 22-year-old Dutch student with an axe at a railway station in Bergen-op-Zoom in 2007.

The original sentence passed on the 42-year-old was 15 years in prison with detention under TBS.

The American filed an appeal, claiming that he had been fully responsible for his actions and did not require further detention on psychiatric grounds. TBS orders are generally given to people deemed to have been of diminished responsibility when they carried out their crimes.

In a statement, the American said he had been looking for a soldier to kill from the nearby army barracks, but when he couldn’t find one, he decided to murder someone at random.

The man had wanted revenge for the Dutch participation in the war in Iraq. While he worked for the US air force in the past, he had never served in Iraq.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]