Woman (50) stabs partner to death: reconstruction must prove or rule out self-defense

Both the public prosecutor and NE’s lawyer asked the judge on Thursday for a reconstruction in the house. (Photo: Region15)

The judge in The Hague has ordered a reconstruction of the fatal stabbing in Rijnsburg last October. A 50-year-old woman killed her partner, a 48-year-old man from Leiden. During the reconstruction, it will be examined, among other things, whether the woman was trying to defend herself or whether she was guilty of manslaughter or murder.

It was the suspect NE herself who called emergency number 112 on Saturday morning, October 14, after an argument between her and her partner had escalated. She had stabbed the man once in the heart with a knife. That happened in a house on Petronella van Saxenstraat. Ambulances and an air ambulance came to the house, but were unable to save the man.

Self defense
NE says she stabbed her romantic partner in self-defense. The man allegedly attacked her while she was in the kitchen. He allegedly pulled her hair through the house. She would also have been pressed against a window or mirror. “I saw no other way out,” the suspect said at the interim hearing at the court on Thursday about the fatal stab wound she inflicted on her romantic partner. “I feel very sorry for him that he is no longer here and for his relatives.”

Both the public prosecutor and NE’s lawyer asked the judge on Thursday for a reconstruction in the house. “This is necessary to find out what happened before, during and after the incident,” the prosecutor said. The court agreed to the reconstruction. The intention is that the suspect will also be present. It is not yet known when the reconstruction will take place.

Blood splatter
The court further decided that an investigation must also be conducted into the blood spatter found on the clothing of the man and the woman. This could show where those splashes come from.

The lawyer for the suspicious woman believes that further investigation is needed. “She may be a victim of sexual violence within the relationship,” he said in court on Thursday. He wants NE to have an internal examination to see if she has suffered any permanent damage as a result. However, the court did not find such an investigation necessary.

Pretrial detention
The woman is currently still in custody. The court does not yet assume that the woman acted in self-defense. The trial will continue in a few months.

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112 Key city Leiden Region Stabbing party Rijnsburg