Bridal shop owner asks ex-partner accused over fatal Hague blast: ‘Was it worth it?’

Judges in The Hague heard 19 statements from bereaved relatives and survivors on Tuesday, the third day of the trial over the 2024 Tarwekamp explosion. Six people died and five were injured in the blast on 7 December 2024.

One family whose home was destroyed by the explosion closed the day’s statements. One of its four members told the court: “The explosion damaged my house. But the greatest damage is in a place nobody can see.” They said they were unlikely ever to be the same as before.

The family’s father described costs that remained despite insurance, and asked the court to take the family’s traumatic and emotional experiences into account when deciding the case and sentencing.

The court’s presiding judge said there had been “a lot of emotion and pain”, expressed with dignity, and noted that many speakers had described losing their sense of safety and calm.

Fifteen more victim statements are due to be read on Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to resume on 24 November, when the court will discuss the four defendants’ personal circumstances and prosecutors are due to present their evidence and set out their sentencing demands. The statements form part of the proceedings over the Tarwekamp blast, which killed six people in The Hague.

Update

In a recorded victim statement on Wednesday, the woman addressed all four defendants, Dutch news agency ANP reported. Speaking to her former partner, she asked, in translation: “Was this worth it, are you satisfied?” [2]

She said she was still in hiding at a secret address and hardly dared to go outside. She also said she was seeing her second psychologist and needed intensive treatment.

The explosion at the bridal shop on Tarwekamp on 7 December 2024 caused a building to collapse. Six people were killed. [4]

Prosecutors say the woman’s former partner appears to have initiated the arson. Three of the four defendants are suspected of involvement in the explosion; the fourth is suspected of involvement in preparations on 1 December, but not in the attack itself, according to the Public Prosecution Service. [3]

In an earlier written victim statement reported by Dutch broadcaster NOS on 5 November, the shop owner said the explosion had ruined her financially and mentally.