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ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN – Aldrik Frik, director of the Alphen company DBF Communicatie, was murdered in his office in the summer of 2018. The Supreme Court of the Netherlands has now ruled on the case. The ruling is therefore final.
The court sentenced the suspect Rik B. to a prison term of 17 years. The suspect appealed against the conviction to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, because the court allegedly did not act properly in the case. The suspect’s lawyer asked the Supreme Court to quash the court’s ruling.
The suspect Rik B., also a business partner of Frik, has always denied that he had anything to do with the death. B. himself stated that he found the body lifeless and then called 911.
Premeditated
Investigation showed that B. arrived at the business premises earlier than normal on the day of the crime and knew that no one other than the victim was present at that time.
According to the court, Rik B. strangled the victim with a weeder on a stick and a rope when he unsuspectingly walked up the stairs, and hit him on the head twelve times with an axe. The court established that the murder weapons were collected from various places in the building with the aim of killing Frik and that this constituted murder.
A month and a half after the murder, B. was arrested. He would have a financial motive. Blood spatters and tissue from the victim were found on Rik B.’s clothing.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands does not find the court’s finding of murder incorrect or incomprehensible.
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands is the highest court in civil cases, criminal cases and tax cases in the Netherlands. It assesses whether a lower court (district court) has correctly applied the law in a ruling and whether the procedure has been followed correctly. The Supreme Court reviews all documents regarding the criminal case and then makes a decision.
Penalty reduction and compensation
The Supreme Court did reduce the sentence from 17 years to 16 years and three months, because the court sent the documents about the case to the Supreme Court too late and therefore the procedure took too long.
Frik’s partner (the injured party) has claimed compensation of almost 400,000 euros in lost income. The Supreme Court has ruled that the calculation of the amount can be questioned, because the victim’s company has been doing worse in recent years. That point goes back to the court to be heard again.
Also read: Details of the Alphen office murder discussed in podcast
