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CRIME

Murderer escapes from Swiss psych hospital

A man convicted of murdering a young girl in the canton of Ticino in 2009 has escaped from a psychiatric clinic and is still at large 48 hours later.

Published: 30 May 2016 10:34 CEST
Murderer escapes from Swiss psych hospital
The escaped killer. Photo: Aargau cantonal police

The 22-year-old man, named by police as Kris Van Ooijen, fled the Königsfelden psychiatric hospital in Windisch in the canton of Aargau in the early hours of Saturday, cantonal police said in a statement on Saturday.

Police launched a search for the fugitive at 3.30am but admitted they had “no clues about his whereabouts”.

Van Ooijen was convicted in 2013 of killing a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl when he, too, was still a teenager.

After connecting online, the killer and his victim met in person in August 2009 when Van Ooijen battered the girl to death with a piece of wood and hid her body in a forest in Sessa, in the canton of Ticino. It wasn’t until June 2010 that the victim’s body was found by a hiker.

Convicted by Aargau’s youth court, Van Ooijen was judged to have a severe mental disorder and was sentenced to four years in prison before being transferred to a closed psychiatric ward.

He had only recently been transferred to Windisch from a juvenile correctional institute in Uitikon and had refused to be treated, saying he was innocent of the crime, reported 20 Minutes.

According to one witness, Van Ooijen could now be back in Ticino.

Speaking to local news portal Tio on Sunday, the receptionist of a hotel in Locarno said the man may have come looking for a room on Saturday afternoon.

“He spoke German and appeared very strange,” said the receptionist, who refused to give him a room in the hotel.

“Only later did I read the articles about the fugitive from Aargau and I recognized his face,” she said.

Aargau cantonal police told the paper they do not exclude the possibility that the man may be in Ticino, but “have received many reports”.

The situation has angered the family of the victim.

Speaking to Blick, her brother said: “People like this should stay in prison forever. We now see exactly what this therapy for murdering my sister has been good for.”

In a statement, the Königsfelden psychiatric hospital said it was “closely collaborating” with the authorities investigating how the killer could have escaped from the ward.

The hospital stressed its security measures but said the ward “was not designed as a high-security system” and consequently there “remains a risk of a breakout.”

The man used violence to flee, it said.

Anyone with information should tell Aargau cantonal police by calling the 117 emergency number.

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CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
Updated: 2 May 2024 15:04 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': Foreigners in Switzerland warned to avoid new scam

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
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