Both participants in this story are migrants who came from Lithuania to work in the Netherlands. The couple lived in a house on Pastoor van Leeuwenstraat street in Helmond, where several other people were also staying.
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A 45-year-old woman was found dead here on the night of May 16. Police officers who arrived at the scene immediately detained her partner I.T. in the same house.
Victim’s DNA on the knuckles
On Monday, at the first preparatory hearing in the Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) court, the Dutch prosecution revealed part of the evidence collected so far.
Experts found traces of the 45-year-old victim’s DNA on I.T.’s knuckles. Meanwhile, the suspect’s DNA was found in several places on the woman’s body. According to the prosecution, these findings are important evidence against the man.
I.T. himself still denies killing his partner.
The man’s lawyer, in turn, doubts whether the presence of DNA traces can be directly linked to possible violence. He pointed out that the suspect and the victim were a couple, living together and sleeping in the same bed.
“They lived in the same house, slept in the same bed,” the defense attorney argued in court.
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Phone has not yet been examined
Investigators have so far been unable to check the contents of I.T.’s mobile phone.
The prosecutor stated in court that the man refused to provide his phone password. Recently, however, I.T. did provide a password, but it turned out to be incorrect.
Despite this, Dutch law enforcement intends to continue seeking ways to examine the device and the data it contains.
Claims not to know what happened that night
In court, I.T. did not want to talk in detail about the circumstances of the fateful night. The man explained that he does not know what happened that night and why his partner died.
Meanwhile, final conclusions about the circumstances of the woman’s death are not yet available. The court medical pathologist is preparing the final autopsy report, but the investigation has been delayed, among other things, due to an additional examination of the victim’s brain.
It is expected that the final expert conclusion will be prepared in December.
