NATALIE MORALES, co-host:
Accused murderer
Joran van der Sloot
is scheduled to make his first appearance in a Peruvian court today. This as we hear from his mother
for the first time
since his latest arrest.
NBC
's
Michelle Kosinski
is in
Lima
,
Peru
. Good morning to you,
Michelle
.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI reporting:
Good morning,
Natalie
.
Joran van der Sloot
is now telling a Dutch newspaper he is retracting his confession, claiming police here made false promises to get him to cooperate and his attorney, who at one point quit but then reconsidered, is now playing hardball, advising him to say not a word today until a judge agrees to have him reinterviewed by police with his own attorney present. In the meantime, we're hearing from two parents of
Joran
and his victim speaking surprisingly candidly. While
Joran van der Sloot
calmly waits in prison for his case to progress, for his mother to come visit, he may be waiting a long time. His mother,
Anita
, speaking to the press
for the first time
in years, tells the Dutch newspaper
De Telegraaf
, "I will not visit him in his cell. I cannot embrace him." Saying he is not a "monster," is "sick in his head, but wanted no help."
Ms. ANITA VAN DER SLOOT:
He's very sad.
KOSINSKI:
She is the one who always stood behind him saying even now, "I believed
Joran
, despite his many lies. I felt he had nothing to do with the disappearance of
Natalee Holloway
in
2005
. He had left her on the beach. I still believe that." Adding though that "
Stephany
, he may have killed." She tells the paper that after the
Holloway
case,
Joran
was traumatized. "We then made a big mistake. We sent him to the
Netherlands
to study. He should have gone for treatment in a closed clinic, he already needed psychiatric help back then." From there she says her son unraveled. He was lying, addicted to poker, and then severe psychological distress after the death of his father in February from a heart attack for which, she says,
Joran
blamed himself. According to
Anita
, he finally agreed to be committed to a Dutch
psychiatric hospital
last month, but two days before going, instead took off for
Peru
. The next time she saw him was on television in handcuffs for murder. In
Lima
, the father of victim
Stephany Flores
is also speaking out.
Mr. RICARDO FLORES (Stephany's Father): (Through translator):
What has happened to me can help parents so that they don't make the same mistake I did, so that they explain to their children that there are two sides to this world. There are bad people. They shouldn't be so trusting, to show them there is an evil side to this world, the truth.
KOSINSKI:
He says he didn't talk to
Stephany
about dangers, wanted her to see the best in people.
Anita
Van der Sloot
also says in a sense she has lost her son, that it might be time to let
Joran
go. "If he has killed
Stephany
, then he must bear the burden, my wish is that he is treated humanely and that he gets psychological help." If it could be proven that this was a crime that happened during a robbery, which police claim it did, it could carry a potential sentence of
life behind bars
.
Joran van der Sloot
's lawyer, though, wants to try to show that it happened under the influence of extreme emotions which would then lead to a considerably shorter sentence. By the way, insanity is also a defense under
“ ”