H. Zaher (35) stabbed on Chestertonlaan. Dies the following evening from her injuries.

Houda Zaher, a 35-year-old woman from Amsterdam, was stabbed on Wednesday afternoon, 23 January 2019, on Chestertonlaan in Amsterdam-Zuidoost. The stabbing happened shortly before 14:00, in the street and in the presence of her 3-year-old daughter. According to local residents, Houda had just done her shopping and was walking home with full bags when she was attacked. Her husband, then 43-year-old Soufiane el H., had waited for her and stabbed her twelve times with a knife. Construction workers who were working nearby rushed to help, gave first aid and tried to keep her warm with blankets until emergency services arrived. Houda was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but died the next day from her wounds. Shortly after the stabbing, police arrested Soufiane el H. During the trial, it became clear that the couple’s divorce was due to be finalised one week later. It also emerged that he had bought a knife shortly before the attack and had waited for her. Houda had previously reported him to police because he had allegedly threatened her with a knife before. In the first trial, the court did not find murder proven, because it could not establish that he had planned in advance to kill her. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter, without TBS, because the court considered him fully criminally responsible. On appeal, the court reached a different conclusion. The court of appeal found that there had been premeditation and therefore murder. Soufiane el H. was sentenced on appeal to sixteen years in prison and compulsory psychiatric treatment under a TBS order. The case is often viewed as femicide: Houda Zaher was killed by her husband in the street, shortly before their divorce was due to be finalised, while their young daughter was present. The case was not finished there. On 1 April 2025 the Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction and the hospital order, but reduced the prison sentence to fifteen years and seven months because the reasonable-time requirement had been breached. The case is now final.