Lent man jailed for 12 years for stabbing ex-wife

A 52-year-old man from Lent was sentenced on Wednesday to twelve years in prison and tbs with compulsory treatment (dwangverpleging) for killing his ex-wife. The Gelderland district court found Danny C. guilty of manslaughter (doodslag).

The court found that he stabbed her 25 times on a public road in Lent late one evening in October last year. She died of her injuries in hospital.

The court called the acts "intentional" and "horrific", but acquitted him of murder. It pointed to a witness statement indicating that the man wanted to talk to the victim that evening.

The court also ruled that carrying a knife was not enough to prove premeditation. He said he had used the knife for fishing earlier that day, which the court found "not implausible".

The court said the man had already assaulted the woman and threatened their eldest son in September 2025. It saw those incidents as part of a "a pattern of tensions in the family going back years", possibly caused in part by his use of alcohol and other substances.

Research found that he has a mild intellectual disability, a personality disorder and severe addictions. That is why the court ordered tbs with compulsory treatment on top of the prison sentence. He must also pay the victim's relatives damages of more than €100,000.