Community remembers 17-year-old Lisa, but safety concerns remain

Exactly a year ago, 17-year-old Lisa was stabbed to death while cycling home to Abcoude after a night out in Amsterdam, sending shockwaves through the country and spearheading campaigns to combat violence against women.

Lisa’s body was found beside a cycleway in Duivendrecht, between the city and her home town, where she was pulled from her bike and stabbed to death while she was on the phone to police.

Shortly afterwards, a 22-year-old Nigerian man known as Christ Jude was arrested at a nearby Amsterdam refugee centre. Earlier this year, he confessed to killing Lisa, along with the rape and attempted rape of two other women in Amsterdam.

A memorial organised by a village church and youth centre will take place in Abcoude Thursday, where people can leave notes or light a candle for Lisa.

Family thanks

That community support, said Lisa’s family in a recent letter thanking Abcoude’s residents, has given them the “the security and strength to resume our lives step by step”.

“Not by hiding us, but by continuing with everything that was so dear to Lisa. Let’s laugh, dance, toast and celebrate life as Lisa did—full of dedication, with a generous smile and surrounded by friends,” they said.

Lisa’s murder took place during the Abcoude Festive Week (Feestweek Abcoude), a five-day annual festival that this year will be held from August 25-29. Organisers have consulted with Lisa’s family, and a commemorative event is expected to be included in the programme. The family’s letter thanking fellow villagers will also be distributed in the program’s booklet.

“It is almost unbelievable that it will soon be a year since Lisa passed away. Our world collapsed and the impact on the town was also immense,” reads the letter. “Thanks to all the villagers for the impressive minutes of silence we were able to experience together. Thank you for the hedge of honour you formed during the funeral, we will never forget these moments.”

Moving forward

Since the murder rattled the country and led to national soul-searching on how to protect women from violence, some things have changed.

Municipalities have taken to designing safer public spaces with women in mind, with several adding more lighting and pruning back shrubbery for more visibility.

But for Danique de Jong, it’s not enough. She organized a “We Claim the Night” crowd-funding campaign shortly after the murder that raised more than half a million euro in three days, money that has been spent on policy, education and victim assistance.

“Many of these measures are about reducing the feeling of insecurity: mowing bushes and setting up a lamp. Then we feel safer, but it doesn’t make us safer,” de Jong told RTV Utrecht. “If we only focus on pepper spray, pruning bunches and hanging lighting, nothing will change.”

Mostly at home

While she said she’s hopeful and applauds the changes, she calls for a cultural shift regarding violence against women. “4.5 million girls in the Netherlands had to deal with sexual violence before the age of 18…[with] someone in their environment who does not accept ‘no’”.

That’s because violence against women mostly occurs closer to home. “A girl being murdered by an unknown person or man is very disturbing but doesn’t happen very often,” Roos Koolhof, a healthcare psychologist who works with victims and those at risk of sexual assault for Levvel/Qpido, told Dutch News at the time of Lisa’s murder.

“Mostly assaults happen in a familiar atmosphere—86% of the time—by the neighbour or your stepfather or a boyfriend or a friend or someone they meet on social media.

“What happens more often is a slap on the ass or touching someone somewhere they don’t like,” she says. “And that is what we should talk about so it won’t happen anymore.”

A survey by the youth news program NOS Stories found that many women feel unsafe in certain places and often carry keys to protect themselves against attack.

Christ Jude’s trial is expected to start in Amsterdam in January.