L. did not attend the hearing himself on Thursday. He has been under observation for the past seven weeks by the Pieter Baan Centre (PBC) to determine whether he was culpable during the events on 28 September. Nothing was said about the progress of this investigation in during the hearing in the Rotterdam court. A request to extend the observation for four weeks is quite rare.
Since the previous hearing in January, the prosecution has further completed the criminal file. Among other things, the suspect’s mailbox is being searched. That search has not yet been completed. The suspect’s activities on internet forums are also being looked into. Earlier, screenshots of posts on the website 4chan, in which the suspect seemed to express his frustrations, came out via Geenstijl. Furthermore, the National Forensic Institute (NFI) is conducting DNA tests on found bullets. The NFI is also looking into whether the same ammunition was used in other incidents and whether they were fired with the firearms found in Erasmus MC.
Relatives of victims disappointed
During the hearing, one of the lawyers for the next of kin expressed his displeasure about the failure (yet) to provide the criminal file to his clients, relatives of Fouad L.’s neighbour and her daughter who were shot dead on 28 September. They were not present, according to the lawyer, because ‘they fear hearing shocking facts from the file that they do not yet know’. The lawyer insisted that the contents of the file would be shared.
The prosecution and the defence did not want to provide the file yet because relatives may still need to be heard as a witness. If they already know the file by then, that prior knowledge could affect their statements. The court did decide at the end of the hearing to provide parts of the file. The judge saw no risk as long as only the parts were provided that relate to them. The general file or the file about the firearm will not be shared. Sensitive information about third parties will also be removed.
Next hearing on 4 July
Fouad L. remains in custody for the time being. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday, 4 July. The substantive hearing is not expected until October at the earliest.
