A 15-year-old boy has been given the maximum sentence for a juvenile for murdering a 15-year-old girl following a dispute on Facebook.

Jinhau K, who is said by the court to have ‘a serious behavioural disorder with psychopathic traits’, was found guilty of stabbing Joyce ‘Winsie’ Hau to death in the hall of her family home in Arnhem in January. He was sentenced to one year in a juvenile detention centre to be followed by three years in a psychiatric prison.
K was 14 when he killed Winsie at the instigation of Polly W and her boyfriend Wesley C. The two girls had been best friends but fell out after Polly objected to things Winsie had written about her on the social networking site Facebook.
Motive
K, who denied in court being paid to kill Winsie, claims to have been put under heavy pressure to carry out the killing. The court ruled, however, that there were enough opportunities for him to pull out.
‘The criminal file includes several statements about threats and the Chinese mafia, but never in concrete terms,’ the court ruling stated.
‘In their reports the psychologist and psychiatrist state that the pressure the defendant says he felt, was never so high that he was unable to resist it. There were several moments where the defendant could have called in the help of others or could have come to his senses.’
Unanswered questions
‘The question how could it have happened that a 14-year-old boy killed a 15-year-old girl whom he does not know, remains unanswered,’ the court document said.
Winsie’s father, who was also stabbed during the attack, told reporters after the verdict he hopes politicians will bring in longer sentences for juveniles in such exceptional circumstances. The killing was witnessed by her younger brother.
The case against Polly and Wesley was opened and adjourned last month.
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Court ruling (in English)