The former dentistry student who has been in custody for a year and a half for stalking and threatening employees of the University of Groningen (UG) and the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG) is scheduled to appear in court for the first substantive hearing on 16 October.
This was announced by the Groningen court on Tuesday afternoon during the sixth preliminary hearing concerning former student Marwa M. She was not present this time because she is currently undergoing evaluation at the Pieter Baan Centre (PBC), a forensic psychiatric institution.
M. studied dentistry at the UG but was expelled from the program due to her behaviour. She disagreed with this decision, leading to a conflict between her, the UMCG, and the UG. She harassed staff members, including the editorial team of UKrant, displaying aggressive behaviour and making threats and intimidations.
Posters
She frequently returned to assert her point, going so far as to put up posters accusing staff of fraud, including their names and photos on the posters. She also posted similar accusations on social media.
Despite being banned from entering UG buildings and contacting certain individuals, she continued to do so. Following complaints from the UG and UMCG, she was arrested in November 2023.
The former student has now been in pre-trial detention for nearly a year and a half. One of the reasons for the delay in the substantive proceedings is that she refused to cooperate with psychological evaluations by the Probation Service for the first six months. In earlier hearings, she claimed to see herself as a victim rather than a suspect, and therefore refused to cooperate.
Significant
The court asked M. during three preliminary hearings to speak with the Probation Service. The court considers information about her mental health to be crucial for the substantive trial. When she continued to refuse, the court ordered that she be evaluated at the PBC.
According to the public prosecutor, the PBC assessment will be completed ‘sometime at the end of this week’. She will then be returned to the Zwolle Penitentiary Institution, where she was previously held. Since the court postponed Tuesday’s case, M. will remain in custody at least until the next preliminary hearing on 1 July.