Child killer convicted in Belgium
Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux has been found guilty of abduction, rape and murder after a three-month trial.
The 12-member jury convicted Dutroux of leading a gang that kidnapped and raped six girls in the mid-1990s, leading to the deaths of four of them.
It found him guilty of killing two of the girls – teenagers An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks – and an accomplice.
Hundreds of witnesses, including two survivors who were rescued from Dutroux’s home, testified against him.
The case, heard in the town of Arlon, has been dubbed Belgium’s trial of the century.
The bodies of Ms Marchal, 17, and Ms Lambrecks, 19, were found in 1996 in the garden of a house in the suburbs of the city of Charleroi owned by Dutroux. Post-mortem reports showed they had been raped and beaten before being drugged and buried alive.
DEFENDANTS
Marc Dutroux, 47, unemployed electrician: Guilty of kidnap, rape, murder
Michelle Martin, 44, Dutroux’s estranged wife: Guilty of conspiracy to kidnap
Michel Nihoul, 62, businessman: Acquitted of kidnapping
Michel Lelievre, 32: Guilty of kidnapping
The discovery came shortly after the bodies of two eight-year-olds, Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, were found in the garden of another property belonging to Dutroux. They had been repeatedly raped before dying of starvation, post-mortem reports showed.
One of the surviving victims who gave evidence at the trial was Sabine Dardenne, who was kept in a purpose-built dungeon in Dutroux’s basement for 80 days.
She was repeatedly raped before being rescued by police in 1996.
Laetitia Delhez – another young woman who was incarcerated in the same basement – also testified at the trial.
Mass of evidence
Dutroux had denied murdering or kidnapping the four dead girls. He also claimed the two eight-year-olds had died while he was in prison on car-theft charges – a claim the prosecution said it could not disprove.
Dutroux also denied murdering his accomplice, Bernard Weinstein, whose body was also found buried on one of his properties.
DUTROUX CASE
1993: Marc Dutroux freed early from child sex sentence. Soon after, girls start to disappear near his houses
13 August 1996: Dutroux arrested
15 August 1996: Sabine Dardenne, 12, and Laetitia Delhez, 14, found alive in basement of house
17 August 1996: Bodies of Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, both 8, found buried
13 September 1996: Bodies of Eefje Lambrecks, 19, and An Marchal, 17, are found
1 March 2004: Dutroux and other suspects go on trial
But he admitted abducting and raping the two girls found alive at his home, saying he was part of a wider paedophile ring in which he said his co-defendant, Michel Nihoul, played a key role.
Mr Nihoul was acquitted of involvement in the abductions of the girls, but was convicted of human trafficking and drugs charges.
Dutroux’s ex-wife Michelle Martin was convicted of convicted of complicity in the girls’ imprisonment.
During the trial, she admitted not feeding the two eight-year-olds while they were being held captive, saying she was frightened they would attack her.
Another of the accused, drug addict Michel Lelievre, was found guilty of kidnapping.
Before reaching their decision, the jury had to assess more than 400,000 pages of evidence and answer 243 questions set out by the trial judge.
Sentencing will be decided next week.
Conspiracy theory
The Dutroux case has led to mass protests in Belgium over police and legal incompetence.
It emerged during the trial that police had searched the house three times, but failed to locate the captives.
The BBC’s Ray Furlong, in Arlon, says the police bungling of the investigation, along with the fact that Mr Dutroux was let out early after being convicted of five other rapes in the 1980s, gave rise to allegations that there was a wider paedophile conspiracy involving prominent government officials.
Prosecutors said they had found no evidence of such a conspiracy.
The parents of Dutroux’s child victims expressed satisfaction with the verdicts.
“I’m relieved. It’s very important that it has been said, that the jury has said: It’s Dutroux that murdered your daughter’,” said Pol Marchal, father of An.
Louisa Lejeune, mother of Julie, said: “A page has turned.”
“It’s recognition and that comes as a relief,” she told reporters.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3811907.stm
By: poopsie - 30th June 2004 at 21:53
“most people are against death penalty here anyway.”
I’m not. The girls he killed also received death penalty and didn’t do anything wrong. So why should he live? And even cost us more money?
He has laughed in our faces for far too many years. 😡
By: Hand87_5 - 30th June 2004 at 20:35
Any appeal possible?
By: Geforce - 30th June 2004 at 19:22
There doesn’t seem to come an end to it 🙁
Frenchman ‘admits child murders’
Belgian prosecutors say a French forestry worker has admitted killing six girls in France and Belgium.
The suspect, Michel Fourniret, 62, has been in custody since being arrested on kidnapping and abuse charges last June.
His victims are thought to include 12-year-old Elisabeth Brichet, who went missing near Namur, Belgium, in 1989.
The reports come days after Belgian child killer Marc Dutroux was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnap, rape and murder of young girls.
The prosecutor for the city of Liege, Anne Thily, said Fourniret had carried out the killings between 1987 and 2001.
The breakthrough by Belgium and French authorities came when Fourniret’s estranged wife said her husband could have killed up to nine children, according to Belgian media.
The father of Elisabeth Brichet told Belgium’s VRT television he hoped police had finally found his daughter’s killer.
“I am awaiting confirmation from the prosecutors’ office,” he said. “I just want to know the truth.”
By: Geforce - 22nd June 2004 at 22:00
Don’t worry about the Belgian taxpayer, most people are against death penalty here anyway. You can’t make an exeption for someone like Dutroux, because therefor we should need to change our constitution. Correct, Belgium is the only country, together with Poland, where the constitution forbides the DP and I’m damn proud about it.
By: Stieglitz - 22nd June 2004 at 18:49
I think for life means a minimum of 25 years here in Belgium. But due to the importance of this case, I think this life centence will be for the lifetime period of Dutroux.
Next to that, if Dutroux should be granterd his freedom after 25 years, the ministry can lock him up for a additional 10 years if they considder him a danger for the society. That was also said in the verdict. So you may count on at least 35 years. Dutroux is around 48 years old so you can make a calculation yourself.
By: MINIDOH - 22nd June 2004 at 18:42
Does “life” actually mean life over there, because over here it certainly doesnt. If someone did that over here they would be let out after, what, 20 years max?
I think his sentence is wrong though. He shouldnt be sent to jail. He should be shot so that he doesnt waste Belgian tax payers money. I wouldnt be willing to pay tax over here so that our services could keep someone like that alive.
By: Geforce - 22nd June 2004 at 17:43
Right on Hand,
Belgium’s Dutroux jailed for life
Convicted paedophile child killer Marc Dutroux has been sentenced to life in prison for the kidnap, rape and murder of young girls.
A court in Arlon sentenced his ex-wife Michelle Martin to 30 years in prison.
Co-accused Michel Lelievre got 25 years and Michel Nihoul was jailed for five years at the end of a case which became notorious around the world.
Under Belgian law, sentencing was decided by the 12 jurors and the panel of three judges together.
Dutroux was found guilty last week of leading a gang that kidnapped and raped six girls in the mid-1990s, leading to the deaths of four of them.
Prosecutors had called for 30-year jail terms for Martin and Lelievre, and at least 10 years for Nihoul, a businessman.
Nihoul was acquitted of kidnapping but convicted of smuggling drugs and people into Belgium.
Buried alive
The case has been dubbed Belgium’s trial of the century.
DEFENDANTS
Marc Dutroux, 47, unemployed electrician: Guilty of kidnap, rape, murder
Michelle Martin, 44, Dutroux’s estranged wife: Guilty of conspiracy to kidnap
Michel Nihoul, 62, businessman: Acquitted of kidnapping
Michel Lelievre, 32: Guilty of kidnapping
The bodies of An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, were found in 1996 in the garden of a house in the suburbs of the city of Charleroi owned by Dutroux. Post-mortem reports showed they had been raped and beaten before being drugged and buried alive.
The discovery came shortly after the bodies of two eight-year-olds, Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, were found in the garden of another property belonging to Dutroux. They had been repeatedly raped before dying of starvation, post-mortem reports showed.
One of the surviving victims who gave evidence at the trial was Sabine Dardenne, who was kept in a purpose-built dungeon in Dutroux’s basement for 80 days.
She was repeatedly raped before being rescued by police in 1996.
Laetitia Delhez – another young woman who was incarcerated in the same basement – also testified at the trial.
By: Hand87_5 - 18th June 2004 at 09:45
Just send this scum in Jail and never let him out. 😡
By: Stieglitz - 18th June 2004 at 08:39
Its about time we close this chapter here in Belgium. The investigation and the trail took many years and I think a lot of people feel relieved that it is coming to a end. And that includes the victimes.
J.V.
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June 18, 2004 at 8:32 am