On Tuesday, the justice system called for prison sentences of up to twenty years against three members of the in-laws of the murdered Jan Elzinga. The Public Prosecutor (OM) is convinced that he has ordered the so-called ‘murder in the swimming pool’.
Forty-year-old Elzinga was shot dead in 2012 in a swimming pool in the village of Marum, Groningen, by Pascal E. The instructions came from Willem P. In 2014, the men were sentenced to fifteen and twenty years respectively of imprisonment.
P. struck a deal with the prosecutor in prison and became a key witness. In exchange for a shorter sentence, he said that Elzinga’s friend, his brother and his mother had planned the murder. According to the family of Fr. Elzinga he wanted to get rid of him because he had abused his girl.
Schutter E. already spoke in 2012 of a conspiracy within the in-laws. But the prosecutor saw too little evidence at the time. According to the prosecutor, now there is. This concerns, among other things, wiretapped telephone conversations in 2021 and texting between family members since 2012. Such a communication was found last year.
The officer seeks twenty years in prison against his brother, 40-year-old Marcel H. from Nieuw-Roden, and Elzinga’s 43-year-old girlfriend, Monique H. from Hollandscheveld. They would play the most important role in bringing about a “cold-blooded liquidation”.
Seventeen years were claimed against 60-year-old mother Jacoba van der L. of Roden and 57-year-old Johan L. of Kampen. According to the OM, Johan L. was the link with the family. P. fixed the weapon.
The in-laws define the key witness unreliable and deny any involvement. The lawyers will have the floor on Thursday and Friday.
