A 29-year-old man, reportedly from Syria, has been arrested after a young girl was stabbed to death in The Netherlands.
Horror struck the municipality of Nieuwegein in the Dutch province of Utrecht on Saturday as an 11-year-old girl was stabbed and killed on Anemoonstraat street.
According to a report from De Telegraaf, first aid attempts were made to save the girl’s life, but she ultimately perished from her wounds.
The paper said that local residents identified the girl’s family as having hailed from the East African nation of Eritrea. They also said that the young girl had just celebrated her 11th birthday
Residents also identified the 29-year-old suspect as being from Syria; however, police have yet to confirm his identity.
The Dutch paper reports that people in the area of the attack claimed that the man had been reported to police on at least three occasions before the attack on the young girl.
It is currently unclear if the suspect and victim knew each other or what the possible motive for the attack was.
Bij het steekincident aan de #anemoonstraat in #Nieuwegein is een 11-jarig meisje om het leven gekomen. Een 29-jarige verdachte is aangehouden. De politie zet het onderzoek voort. Was u getuige? Bel 09008844. pic.twitter.com/TqxE7m7KR1
— Politie Utrecht (@POL_Utrecht) February 1, 2025
Algemeen Dagblad reports that witnesses said that the girl was on the way to her friend’s house when she was stabbed on the street.
“The screams of the girl’s mother were terrible. I closed the windows so I didn’t have to hear it,” a resident told the paper.
In a statement, the Mayor of Nieuwegein, Marijke van Beukering, said: “What happened here today is horrible. Our thoughts now go primarily to the relatives, family and friends of the victim.”
Van Beukering described the attack as a “nightmare for everyone” and a “black page for loved ones and for Nieuwegein”.
The mayor said that police are investigating the attack and that “as a municipality, we will offer support where necessary”.
In response to the attack, Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders, who has been marshalling government efforts to clamp down on illegal migration and increase deportations, including to Syria, wrote on X: “Terrible, what a barbaric crime. Sympathy for the bereaved.”
Dutch First: Wilders-Led Government Looks to Impose Hard Population Cap, Limit Mass Migration https://t.co/ufgnplzkoD
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) December 6, 2024
