Former health minister Els Borst, who was murdered at her home last year, was stabbed 41 times, Dutch media reported on Tuesday evening.

The information came from suspect Bart van U’s lawyer Noëlle Pieterse who told reporters more details about the charges facing her client ahead of the trial, which starts next week.

Most of the 41 cuts were to her face and hands. Yet it took police several days to announce that the former doctor was the victim of a crime.

Bart van U was arrested in January on the suspicion of murdering his sister. DNA tests led to Borst’s murder being added to the charge sheet.

Failures

According to media reports, there was a succession of police failures during the investigation. Bart van U should have been in jail earlier because he was supposed to be serving three years for possessing illegal weapons. But he had managed to avoid this because of police failings.

He is said to have stabbed his sister multiple times after she returned from shopping. He claimed earlier they had a poor relationship and that he acted out of self-defence.

Borst, who served as health minister from 1994 to 2002, was murdered after returning home from a D66 conference in Amsterdam and was found dead in her garage in February 2014. DNA checks led the police to Van U in January this year.