Lawyer of ‘Thijs H.’ sees the chance of revision after won disciplinary case

The report played an important role in the final conviction of Thijs Hermans by the Court of Appeal in Den Bosch in 2022 to 22 years in prison Plus TBS. Last year the Supreme Court confirmed that punishment. Two earlier expert reports made during the criminal case, one of which was by the Pieter Baan Center, concluded that Hermans was completely unaccountable because of his psychosis. These reports advised Hermans to only impose the TBS measure, without imprisonment.

This can be the legally required new fact, the ‘Novum’, which is necessary for a request for revision at the Supreme Court

« The argumentation for and against the presence of a psychotic statue should have been treated in more detail and meticulously and thus made insight into, » explains the highest disciplinary court. « The considerations for the question of whether there has been substance use are not clear and consistent. (…) The substantiation of the findings is therefore not adequate. »

Three years after the conviction of Thijs Hermans, there is still a chance of a reopening of the criminal case, lawyer Bénédicte Ficq says with the loss of the reprimanded report: « This may be the legally required new fact, the ‘novum’, which is necessary for a request for revision at the Supreme Court. »

Errors during treatment

In addition to the disciplinary case concluded today, there is also a civil court case. In it, Hermans puts the Limburg GGZ institution Mondriaan responsible for errors made during his treatment prior to the murders. Hermans ended up at Mondriaan after a suicide attempt. Mondriaan presented the ADHD diagnosis and prescribed the medicine Dexamfetamine. Numerous signals that this medication was counterproductive did not lead to intervention by the GGZ institution and its practitioners. According to Hermans, supported by the two previously mentioned expert reports, he has been incorrectly diagnosed and the dexamfetamine has worsened or even caused its psychosis. Lawyer Ficq: « Now that today’s final disciplinary judgment can go into the trash can, only those first two reports remain. »

In that civil case, the court in Maastricht now has commissioned To have a new expert investigate the relationship between the alleged misdiagnosis, the medication, the psychosis of Hermans and the murders. When that case comes to an end is still unclear. An expert who first seemed willing to carry out the investigation is not available. Hermans and Mondriaan now have to look for an expert with whom both parties and also the court agrees.

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