A woman is killed every 8 days in the Netherlands
A woman is killed in the Netherlands every eight days, and in 60% of cases, the killer is a partner or ex-partner, according to a report by Nieuwsuur. After decades of decline, the number of female homicides in the country has stabilized over the past ten years. This week, 39-year-old Jouella from Eindhoven was killed after being tracked down by her ex-husband Driekus K. to a women's shelter in Gouda where she was hiding with their two children. He shot her in the street in front of their children, then fled and later committed suicide.
Drikus K. was previously convicted of attempting to kill a former partner and was arrested last month for possession of weapons and for assaulting Joewilla, but he was released after two weeks of detention. In another incident on Thursday, a woman was killed in her home in Vlijmen in North Brabant province, and police arrested a 35-year-old man from Ouden, with the circumstances of the crime still unknown.
Researcher on femicide Marieke Liem explained that Joela sought protection, which is something many women in abusive relationships fear. She added, "In many cases, authorities or society are not aware of the severity of the problems between men and women." She pointed out that when a woman goes to the police to report domestic violence, she has already experienced about 33 previous incidents. Liem's research on femicide — where the motive is related to the victim being a woman — revealed "dangerous indicators that must be heeded." Men who kill their partners often have a history of threats of suicide or harming animals or children. Addiction is often present in these cases, along with the man's desire to control the woman's behavior out of fear of losing control or status.
Lim confirmed that the slide into domestic violence happens gradually, saying: "An example of this is when a man asks his wife to send him a text message every ten minutes with a picture of her surroundings. This control starts gradually. There are about 200,000 people in the Netherlands living in this type of intimate terrorism. And when a woman finally manages to end the relationship, things can turn into stalking, and sometimes into murder."
Lim sees that the continued rise in the number of murders of women may be linked to women's liberation, adding: "Some men try to restore the old disparities in status. If they cannot do so through education or work, they sometimes resort to violence." She pointed out that the police and social workers cannot alone confront this phenomenon, saying: "The solution is in our hands. We must break the silence barrier around domestic violence. Women should be given the opportunity to develop, and men should not tie their status to control within the relationship."