Appeals court reduces sentence in Diemen abortion murder: 14 years, no psych treatment

The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam has sentenced Dennis van E.,55, to 14 years in prison for the mother of his unborn child and the fatal assault of the child’s mother, Patricia Oliveira dos Santos, a 32-year-old from Brazil.

Van E. went to a police station in his hometown of Diemen on October 18, 2019, and said that his girlfriend and their baby were lying dead in his house. The investigation that followed showed that the man had given his girlfriend, who was between 32 and 37 weeks pregnant at the time, abortion pills, alcohol, and various types of drugs.

Oliveira dos Santos was pregnant with a son. Van E. explicitly wanted a daughter. The court of appeal said he had “deliberately sought to end the baby’s life” and had also “taken unacceptable risks with his girlfriend’s life.”

Van E. and Oliveira dos Santos met each other in the Brazilian coastal city of Fortaleza. The Diemen native would often vacation there. Oliveira dos Santos lived in poverty and was a sex worker. She had two sons while living in Brazil. Van E. took her to the Netherlands.

The district court sentenced Van E. in 2024 to 16 years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment at a tbs facility. The court of appeal did not impose a psychiatric treatment order because the defendant refused to cooperate with any examinations and experts had not established that he had a mental disorder.

As a result, the legal requirements for imposing psychiatric treatment had not been met, the Court of Appeal said. The court considered a 15-year prison sentence appropriate but took into account the years-long delay in the case when determining the final sentence.

The OM had recommended Van E. to be sentenced to 15 years and nine months in prison, followed by compulsory psychiatric treatment at a tbs facility.