Man (51) found dead with stab wounds in a home on Jan van Galenstraat

Frens Smit, a 51-year-old man from Amsterdam, was found dead on Wednesday, 4 May 2016, inside his home on Jan van Galenstraat in Amsterdam-West. Neighbours had alerted police because of a strange smell coming from the apartment. When officers entered the home, they found Frens’ body. He had probably been dead inside the apartment for some time. The investigation showed that he had died as a result of violence: he had stab wounds, and police treated the case as a homicide. The suspect was Tzeichoun E., a 30-year-old Greek-German man from Hanover. Several traces found inside the home pointed to him. His DNA was found on, among other things, a bottle of Spa Blauw, in a blood trace in the hallway, on bloodstained underwear in the bathroom and on a bloodstained towel in the living room. A fingerprint belonging to him was also found inside the apartment. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Tzeichoun E. had stabbed Frens Smit to death and then taken valuable icons and jewellery from the home. The case drew extra attention because of an unusual defence argument. The suspect’s defence claimed that not he, but an identical twin brother, could have been responsible. This alleged twin brother was said to have left for another country and joined ISIS. The court did not believe that story. The birth of the supposed twin brother had never been registered, and the statements about him were considered unreliable. In addition, the fingerprint found in the home could not be explained by an identical twin, because fingerprints differ even between identical twins. The Public Prosecution Service demanded a sixteen-year prison sentence, but the court did not find murder proven. It did find that Tzeichoun E. was responsible for Frens Smit’s death. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison. The case was therefore legally concluded as a fatal stabbing inside a home on Jan van Galenstraat, where a 51-year-old man was found only after some time and the perpetrator was identified through DNA and fingerprint evidence.