Maja murder suspects face February hearing

5 January 2004

AMSTERDAM — The two adult suspects in the murder of 16-year-old Nijmegen schoolgirl Maja Bradaric will appear in Arnhem Court on 20 February, the public prosecution said on Monday.

The Pieter Baan Centrum is currently conducting a personality assessment of the two 18-year-old suspects, identified as Goran M. and Ferdi 0., but it is not yet certain when the assessment will be completed. Both men are the chief suspects in the murder investigation.

But in light of the ongoing personality assessments, it is therefore possible that the 20 February hearing will not represent an official start to the trial and could instead be a pre-trial hearing, an NOS news report said.

Maja Bradaric was strangled to death in a car on the night of 17 November and passers-by found her burning body dumped near the eastern city of Nijmegen. She had not been sexually assaulted and died before her body was set alight.

It is not yet clear when two underage suspects will appear before a children’s judge. The 16-year-old Goran P. — who is suspected of having been in the car when Maja was murdered — must also undergo a personality assessment.

The examination will take place in the youth penitentiary in Vught, where Goran is presently being detained. Goran’s advocate claims that the boy, of Bosnian descent, suffers from war trauma and was unable to assist the girl.

The prosecution also said on Monday that a decision over the possible prosecution of 15-year-old Nina K. — the girlfriend of the victim — will be made at a later date.

According to the prosecution, a motive for the murder is relationship based, but defence lawyers have offered several different explanations for the killing.

Subject: Dutch news