AMSTERDAM — The public prosecutor has demanded 12 years jail and TBS for the 18-year-old man accused of the “repulsive” murder of Nijmegen schoolgirl Maja Bradaric and the burning of her body in November 2003.

It means that if the court convicts and sentences suspect Goran M. to the prosecution’s TBS demand, he faces detention for an indefinite period in a secure hospital, where he would be forced to undergo psychiatric treatment.

The prosecutor claimed that M. had no real motive for the murder and should thus be punished more severely. She also found it difficult to accept how — at the request of the victim’s parents — M. had assisted in the search for Maja.

Maja, 16, was reported missing on the night of 17 November 2003. Her burning body was found shortly after midnight dumped near the town of Bemmel. She had not been raped.

When it was made public that Maja had been murdered, M. and his co-accused attended various memorial services and helped console Maja’s parents.

The prosecutor said the murder was repulsive and frightening. Maja was strangled for about 30 minutes and her body was so badly burned that it was finally identified by dental records two days later.

“The greatest fear of the parents became reality. Their life has come to a still; their only child has been murdered and they will never understand why,” she said.

M. told Arnhem Court on Wednesday that together with 16-year-old Goran P. — also of Bosnian descent — he sat in the back seat of a car driven by the other main suspect, Ferdi O. and admitted he had taken ecstasy for the first time that night.

M. — who admitted he had swallowed four ecstasy pills — said he strangled Maja during a fit of anger and failing to finish the crime off, he urged the other two co-suspects to help.

The now 19-year-old O. put his hand on Maja’s mouth and nose and pulled on the other end of the rope M. had wrapped around Maja’s throat. P. is alleged to have watched. M. and O. later dumped the body and set it on fire.

Psychiatric experts at the judiciary’s observation clinic, PBC, assert that M. cannot be held fully accountable for his actions. He has a high tolerance for violence and cannot accept insults. He is at risk of committing a repeat crime.

But it is not certain whether M.’s serious personality disorder can be related to the atrocities he saw as young boy in Bosnia in the 1990s.

O. — who is accused of first raising the idea of killing Maja at the start of November 2003 — was also assessed by the PBC and is considered to be fully accountable for his actions.

The murder plans are alleged to have been decided upon on 16 November. It was allegedly agreed that O. would pick M. up and later P., whom Maja was romantically keen on.

P. is accused of being aware of the murder plans for some days, as was Maja’s girlfriend Nina K., 15, who was also to appear in court on Wednesday. The prosecution was expected later on Wednesday to make a sentencing demand against O., it was reported.

Due to the fact he is a juvenile, the proceedings against P. were conducted behind closed doors on Wednesday, but the prosecution said he should be tried as an adult and sentenced to six years jail.

The defence lawyer representing M. said the court can only impose TBS on his client. He also pleaded for the TBS treatment to start as quickly as possible, as did M., who said he was sorry for what he had inflicted on Maja’s parents, newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

The lawyer also said that M.’s role in the murder was not larger than that of O. and denied that he had threatened other people involved in the crime.

He also said M. has been open about the matter and has fully co-operated with the investigation. He demanded an independent psychiatric examination of his client away from the PBC.

The court will hand down its ruling on 26 May.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news