The court in Arnhem has sentenced 57-year-old Ilonka B. from Elst to 18 years in prison. She killed her partner with an ax and then hid his body in the crawl space of their home. After completing her prison sentence, B. will be placed under intensive supervision and must undergo mandatory treatment.
Three times
B. hit her husband three times on the head with an ax on the early morning of September 16, 2022, while he was in bed and probably sleeping. She then dragged the body to the crawl space, where police found the body eight months later. The woman lived in the house all this time.
No emergency weather
The woman stated that she told her partner in August that she wanted to leave him. Since then, he is said to have raped her several times, including on September 16, 2022.
The man sat on her in bed, she felt something hard under the man’s pillow and hit him with it. This turned out to be an axe, that’s the story of Ilonka B.
Unlikely
The court finds B.’s story plausible. She adjusted her statement several times when previous research findings did not fit her statement. The woman also gave varying statements about details of the alleged rape on September 16, 2022.
According to the court, there is no support for the woman’s scenario in the file. For example, no one saw her injuries from the violent rape. She also destroyed evidence.
Murder
The court finds it proven that the woman killed the man with a premeditated plan: she bought an ax with her bank card a week before the murder. Research also showed that the victim’s injuries were more consistent with a static position of the man’s head (little movement) than with a dynamic position (the head or body in motion).
In combination with the early time and location of death, the bedroom, the court deduces that the man was in a static position in bed at the time the woman struck him with the axe. This best fits the scenario that the man was asleep at the time.
The court finds that the woman had sufficient time to think about the decision to kill the victim and its consequences. There were no or insufficient contraindications, which indicate that she acted in a violent impulse. So it was murder.
Higher penalty than required
The court imposed four years more punishment than the public prosecutor demanded. The court strongly blames the woman for lying to the surviving relatives about his fate for a long time.
She knew all along he was, that he was no longer alive and that she was responsible for his death.
In addition, the neighbors suffered from a plague of flies and an unbearable stench from the meter cupboard.
The Probation Service has recommended imposing a behavior-influencing and freedom-restricting measure. The court accepts this advice. This measure means that the woman will be under intensive supervision after serving a prison sentence and that rehabilitation is subject to conditions.
