Jan Elzinga from Marum was murdered in 2012 on the orders of his in-laws. That is the conclusion of the court in Leeuwarden. “All suspects would be convicted.”
This is what lawyer Bart Nooitgedagt says about the leaked judgment. The court wanted to rule in the swimming pool murder case last Thursday, but that was postponed canceled at the last minute, because the verdict of one of the suspects was accidentally posted online a few hours earlier.
This concerned the judgment of Johan L. from Kampen, assisted by Nooitgedagt. The lawyer has it in his possession and studied it. “The court has also unmistakably established the guilt of the other suspects.”
It can be deduced from this that the in-laws – Elzinga’s girlfriend Monique, her brother Marcel and their mother Coby – will be sentenced again on appeal to long prison sentences for the murder-for-hire of the then 40-year-old Jan Elzinga.
L. arranged the firearm with which Jan Elzinga was shot off his bicycle in broad daylight at the swimming pool in Marum on July 10, 2012. He died on the spot.
Why a story about the verdict?
Dagblad van het Noorden is also in possession of the leaked verdict, but decided not to publish it on Thursday in order not to disrupt legal proceedings. So now a story, without drawing on the content of the judgment. Because lawyer Nooitgedagt in podcast The Swimming Pool Murder from news site NU.nl comments on the scope of the judgment.
Judgment was online too early
The denouement of the long-drawn process surrounding the liquidation was scheduled for last Thursday. But because Johan L.’s verdict was posted online too early, the lawyers retaliated against the court and it could not make a ruling. Nooitgedagt says that the court has created the appearance of bias. “This is a serious matter. Before the investigation was officially completed, guilt was already determined.”
He points out the major stakes in this case: years in prison have been demanded against all suspects. Nooitgedagt does not want to go into detail about the considerations of the counselors and the punishment that the court has in store for L.
The Swimming Pool Murder in a nutshell
The contract killing of Jan Elzinga was organized by Willem P. from Deventer. He arranged for the shooter to be liquidated. Elzinga allegedly abused his partner and therefore had to die. Both men were arrested shortly after the murder. The shooter named friend Monique and her brother Marcel as the client, but the police and the Public Prosecution Service were unable to obtain the evidence. He got 15 years in prison.
Willem P. was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for organizing the murder for hire. He initially denied having anything to do with it. Years later, however, he made a deal with the law while in custody. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he, as a key witness, pointed out the in-laws as the evil genius.
P. reinforced his story with false text messages with Marcel H., but was exposed and was jailed for a year and a half for perjury last year.
Despite the lying key witness, the court in Groningen sentenced Monique, Marcel and their mother to 20 years in prison at the end of 2022. The judges saw enough evidence in tapped telephone messages and conversations between the three family members that the key witness’s story was correct.
The denying in-laws appealed, as did Johan L. who received a 7-year prison sentence.
Waiting for a request for recusal
It is not yet clear how the controversial murder case will proceed. The request for disqualification will be heard at the court on May 15. If the lawyers get their way and the counselors are removed from the case, it is not inconceivable that the entire appeal will have to be done again.
Nooitgedagt assumes the latter. “Then we can defend ourselves again, with new counselors.” L. has confessed that he arranged a firearm for Marcel and asked for it back in vain when he heard what the in-laws planned to do with it. Justice also sees him as a broker between the perpetrators of the murder and the family, but he categorically denies this.
One option is that the challenge is rejected. Then the verdict in the swimming pool murder – as it stands now – will probably follow soon.
What went wrong at the court in Leeuwarden?
Judgments are anonymized by a team within the court and published on Rechtspraak.nl, a spokesperson for the court said when asked. “The judgments of the four suspects were prepared for publication around 10:00 am. For three judgments, the time of publication was set as 2:15 p.m. In the fourth judgment no time was entered by mistake, so it immediately came online at 10:06 am.”
Tags: Court swimming pool murder inlaws ordered liquidation Jan Elzinga Marum Guilt undeniably established
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