A shopkeeper from the Limburg municipality of Houthalen-Helchteren will remain in custody for the time being. During the weekend the shopkeeper was involved in an incident with an intruder. The intruder was stabbed and died of his injuries.
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Shopkeeper that stabbed to death an intruder to remain in custody
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Both the shopkeeper’s lawyer and the prosecutor’s office had asked the magistrate to delay making a decision on the whether the man should remain on remand as there are still several important elements missing from the ongoing investigation into the intruder’s death.
The remand hearing has now been put back until next week.
On Friday night the shopkeeper confronted an intruder in his grocery store in the Houthalen-Oost area of Houthalen-Helchteren. During the events that followed the intruder was stabbed and died of his injuries. The shopkeeper has been detained on the orders of an Examining Magistrate since Saturday afternoon.
He is suspected of manslaughter. One woman witnessed the incident she has not been detained. Normally, the shopkeeper should have appeared before a remand hearing today (Tuesday 28 February) and more light would be shed on the investigation thanks to amongst other things the analysation of footage from CCTV cameras in the shop. However, it has now been decided to put the hearing back to next week.
The shopkeeper’s solicitor Tom Van Overbeke told VRT News that it is not at all unusual for a remand hearing to be put back by a week as is the case here.
"The investigation only started on Saturday. It is a criminal investigation and with the weekend we have only had one day to prepare the case”.