Lucia de Berk - Case Reopened

Case Reopened

On 17 June 2008, the Advocate-General of the Supreme Court, G. Knigge, made a request for the Supreme Court to reopen the case. On 7 October 2008 the court acceded to his request, acknowledging that new facts uncovered by Knigge substantially undermined earlier evidence. In particular, an independent team of medical researchers with access to all available medical information had reported to Advocate-General Knigge that the death which sparked the case appears to have been a natural death. The key toxicologist of the earlier trials had agreed with the new medical findings, pointing out that at the time of the trial, the court had only given him partial information about the medical state of the child. De Berk's statements about her doings on the night of that child's death had also been shown to be correct; indeed, during the period in which the courts had earlier concluded that she must have administered poison, the baby was actually being treated by a medical specialist and his assistant.

De Berk was allowed to remain free while awaiting a retrial at the Court of Arnhem, which first adjourned while further investigations were made. The public prosecution had asked for extensive new forensic investigations, but this request was turned down by the court. Instead it commissioned further independent medical investigations into the cases of two more of the children, again allowing a multidisciplinary medical team access to all possible medical data concerning the children. At a session on 9 December 2009, the court stated that new integral medical investigations of the last nine months had confirmed that the cases of Amber, Achmed and Achraf were all natural deaths/incidents. These were the only cases where there was previously claimed proof of De Berk's culpability.)

The appeal hearing ended on 17 March 2010. Witnesses heard on the final day stated that the deaths at the Juliana Children's hospital were natural, sometimes caused by wrong treatment or bad hospital management, and sometimes unexpected because of faulty medical diagnosis. The behaviour of the nurses, including De Berk, during a couple of medical crises turned out to have been swift and effective, saving lives on several occasions. The Public Prosecution capitulated, formally requesting the court to deliver a not guilty verdict. On 14 April 2010, the court delivered the not guilty verdict.