It was the trial of the year 2013. On March 28 and 29, the trial against Jasper S. who raped and killed Marianne Vaatstra in 1999. The case was heard in the court of Leeuwarden. The verdict is a few weeks later: on April 19, 2013, S. will hear what verdict will be passed on him.
Absent
Jasper S. has confessed that he raped and murdered Marianne Vaatstra. Prior to the hearing for the ruling, the Public Prosecution Service announced that Jasper S. was not present. His lawyer Jan Vlug reports that he cannot come due to personal circumstances . He will hear the judge’s decision through his lawyer. His chair remains empty during the ruling.
Victim
Marianne Vaatstra from the Frisian Zwaagwesteinde was a completely random victim in 1999. She was led into a meadow by S. under threat of a pocket knife and raped several times. Jasper S. then tried to strangle her and then slit her throat. The court at Zaailand in Leeuwarden is slowly filling up on Friday, April 19 at 10 a.m. The verdict will follow at 10:30 am. Before the verdict, those present speculate whether it will be murder or manslaughter.
Murder
The Public Prosecution Service assumes premeditated murder and imposes a sentence of twenty years. The enormous impact that this case has had and continues to have on society increases the sentence, says the Public Prosecutor. The fact that Jasper S. remained silent for thirteen years is also an increasing factor in the sentence, the Public Prosecution Service believes.
Manslaughter
The two lawyers of the accused, Jan Vlug and Anno Huisman, believe that there is no premeditated murder but manslaughter. The killing of the girl is said to have happened in the panic that followed the rape. No more than fifteen years seems a fair punishment to both lawyers. They also believe that the fact that S. has made a full statement about the event should reduce his sentence. Experts believe that Jasper S. withheld information and did not reveal anything. The Public Prosecution Service also doubts the completeness of S’s statement.
Resists
The statement about the way in which Marianne Vaatstra resisted is not seen as reliable by experts and the Public Prosecution Service. S. states that the victim hardly resisted, while there are signs that she resisted violently and that S. must have been scratched.
Father
When father Bauke Vaatstra arrives at the court, he is surrounded by journalists. The main question is: How high do you hope the sentence will be? Vaatstra hopes for twenty years. The pronouncement of the verdict by judge Bert Dölle will be broadcast by Omrop Fryslân with a fifteen-minute delay. Names and personal details are bleeped out.
Dölle
Judge Dölle says in the verdict that Jasper S. committed murder. He could have gone back on his decision. After the rape, he thought about his family and the impact of his act on his wife and children. He could have refrained from murder at that moment. Yet he took the life of a sixteen-year-old girl. He took a life and caused indescribable suffering to the surviving relatives. The civil court is the ideal forum for adjudicating on damages. Dölle therefore rejects the compensation. It would delay the criminal case and a civil procedure is better equipped for that.
From the point of view of retaliation, any sentence is too light, the judge says. Dölle calls the case chilling. “It is chilling what Marianne had to experience in the last hours of her life.” He considers murder and rape proven.
Punishment
The fact that Jasper S. remained silent for thirteen years is not an aggravating offense, the judge says. No one is obliged to cooperate in his own condemnation. S. hears eighteen years in prison demanded against him. The rapist and murderer has fourteen days to appeal this verdict. Jasper S. decided not to appeal in April 2013.
read more
- Marianne Vaatstra – Arrest of the murderer
- Marianne Vaatstra – Jasper’s confession after DNA research
- Marianne Vaatstra – Details about the murder investigation
- Marianne Vaatstra – The pocket knife by Jasper S
- Marianne Vaatstra – Jasper S. and the lawsuit