DEN BOSCH - A 29-year-old Pole heard an 11-year prison sentence against him Tuesday for the manslaughter of his 47-year-old Helmond girlfriend B. Tolhuis.

He allegedly killed her with eight stabbings on May 10, 2008, in her Volderhof home. He then fled in her car to Poland The Dutch police tried to bring the man to our country. They did not succeed immediately because he still had to serve a prison sentence in Poland.

The man made a confession in Poland in the presence of Dutch investigators and a Polish prosecutor. That statement was made entirely against the rules, made without a lawyer. T. van den Biezenbos, the Pole's counsel, asked for a "significant reduction" of the sentence demanded by the prosecutor for that reason.