TheFacebook murder (Dutch:Facebookmoord) is a term coined by Dutch media for themurder of 15-year-old Winsie Hau on 14 January 2012 by the then 14-year-old Jinhua K. inArnhem, theNetherlands.[1] Hau's father was also injured in the attack. The case was given this name because the motive lay in the escalation of a teenage argument on thesocial media andsocial networking serviceFacebook.[2][3]
Winsie 'Joyce' Hau[note 1] and 16-year-old Polly W.[note 2] were best friends until they had a falling out in October 2011 during a birthday party at apool hall in Arnhem.[6] Over the following weeks, the girls continued to argue online until Hau made remarks on Facebook on supposedpromiscuous behaviour by her opponent. This resulted in Polly W. asking her friend, the 17-year-old Wesley C. fromRotterdam, to deal with the situation, who thencontracted Jinhua K. fromCapelle aan den IJssel to "teach [Hau] a lesson".
On 14 January 2012, Jinhua K. went to Hau's residence in Arnhem, armed with a knife. He rang the doorbell andstabbed Hau repeatedly in the face and neck when she answered the door. Her father, 49-year-old Chun Nam Hau, attempted to intervene and sustained knife wounds to his face and arms.[7] Hau died of her injuries in hospital on 19 January 2012.[8]
Wesley C. and Polly K. were both sentenced to two years in juvenile detention and judicial involuntary commitment, the maximum sentence possible under Dutch criminal law for juveniles, forconspiring to commit andpurposely contributing to the murder. The public prosecutor asked to have the two tried as adults due to the severity of the case, and demanded five years in prison and judicial involuntary commitment, but the court ruled against this.[9]
Thepublic prosecutor appealed the verdict.[10] The appeal was during a non-public case in July and August 2013.[11] On 27 August 2013, the court of appeals upheld the earlier ruling.[12]
Jinhua K. had shown some improvements during his time in a mental health facility, though psychologists had noted that he was at a low to moderate risk of reoffending, citing examples of impulsive behaviour, lowered empathy and occasional lack of cooperation with behavioural interventions.[13]
In April 2018, Jinhua K. and an unidentified older man committed an armed robbery inSint-Oedenrode. The two posed as prospective buyers of expensive computer equipment, having contacted the victim through his online listing. While stealing the equipment, they threatened to shoot the victim, his girlfriend and their infant if they attempted to intervene. A few weeks later, the two men were arrested.[13]
Hau's father expressed his lack of surprise at Jinhua K's reoffending, stating that "he is severely disturbed; that was evident from (Winsie's) murder".[14]
In 2017, the Facebook murder was adapted by Dutch public broadcasterBNNVARA for the episodeUnlike of thecrime drama television seriesVan God Los.[8][15]
On 8 July 2023, the Australiantrue crime podcastCasefile detailed the case of Winsie Hau in their 254th episode.[14]
^Born inHong Kong, Hau's given name was Winsie and the name 'Joyce' was theEnglish alias she had started using in secondary school.[4][5]
^Due to theright to privacy, media in the Netherlands routinely withhold the identity of people charged with or convicted of a crime and often substitute initials for names.
^"OM eist 1 jaar cel en tbs voor Facebookmoord" [Public Prosecution Service demands 1 year in prison and judicial involuntary commitment for Facebook murder] (in Dutch).RTL Nieuws. 20 August 2012.Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved15 July 2015.
^Rooij, Leen de (2012)."Ter herinnering aan Winsie ('Joyce') Hau" [In memory of Winsie ('Joyce') Hau].Dvvbi.nl (in Dutch). Damvereniging VBI Huissen.Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved12 August 2024.
^"Ter herinnering aan Winsie" [In memory of Winsie](PDF).Damclubctd.nl (in Dutch). Damclub CTD Arnhem.Archived(PDF) from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved12 August 2024.
^abWely, Mick van (29 May 2018)."Tbs te kort voor tienerkiller" ["Judicial involuntary commitment too short for teen killer"].De Telegraaf (in Dutch).Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved19 March 2025.
