Caretaker justice minister David van Weel will investigate the “quick and simple” legalisation of pepper spray so women can defend themselves against attackers, he said in a debate about the violent death of 17-year-old Lisa two weeks ago.

Pepper spray is legal in some European countries, but in the Netherlands it is seen as an illegal weapon and included in the same category as guns and knives.

Allowing women to carry pepper spray won’t keep them safe in itself, Van Weel said. Violence against women is “complex, a many-headed monster”, he said, citing street intimidation and unsafe viaducts and stations.

GroenLinks-PvdA MP Songül Mutluer, who had requested the debate, said the safety of women in public places must be tackled quickly. A woman or girl is killed every week in the Netherlands, she said. “We want to reclaim the day as well as the night,” she told the minister.

Mutluer also slated “extremists” who are using the death of Lisa “to further their own agenda” because the man is an asylum seeker living in refugee accommodation.

Far right leader Geert Wilders had to apologise last week for saying the man accused of the crime had been arrested the week before and let go. Police commented he had stirred up “public unrest”.

Van Weel said it is not clear if the man has the right to be in the Netherlands but that there was no reason to ignore the fact he lived in an asylum centre.

The identity of the undocumented man, who says he is from Nigeria, is still to be established. Police have asked for the help of the Nigerian authorities to identify him.