Double murder in Denderhoutem: could it have been prevented?

Lawyer Anthony Mallego now represents the murdered woman's ex-husband, the father of the murdered son. Earlier, on Friday,  he was contacted by the victim herself. That morning, she had filed a report against her partner claiming he was stalking her. "Normally, she was going to visit my office in the following days.  As her car number plates had been removed from her vehicle by the perpetrator, she could not do so immediately," he says.

The suspect was arrested and questioned. He was then released and given a restraining order. According to the prosecutor's office, there was no indication that the man would proceed to commit the terrible acts of murder. It is assumed that he took his own life after the murders, but his body has not yet been found.

The lawyer greatly questions the prosecutor’s course of action. "We had received other information, that for sure it was a very alarming situation and that the police also transmitted that information to the public prosecutor's office."

"My client is extremely angry that a different decision was taken, that they released the accused with a restraining order and that was it. Because obviously the consequences are horrific."

"This has to be investigated and we will also take the necessary steps to ensure that," he says. Mallego also speaks of the communication between the police forces and the prosecutor's office and how they came to their decision there. "The prosecutor's office says that there were no indications for the suspect to appear before an examining judge. Our information shows that there should have been."

Mallego also says the woman, who was killed, was reassured on Friday and told that her partner had been arrested. "She did not know he would be back so soon".

The lawyer concludes with an appeal. "This is very common. There are many complaints about family violence and they need to be taken seriously each single time, but that requires a lot of resources and time. A lot of energy goes into other criminal cases, big drug cases for example, but this costs lives."

Search for killer focuses on River Dender

Meanwhile police are searching the River Dender in a bid to find the suspected killer of the woman, who was murdered in Denderhoutem on Friday as well as her son. The police missing persons’ unit is conducting the search for the woman’s estranged partner.

The man’s car was found close to the River Dender in Aalst (East Flanders).  Eyewitnesses say they saw somebody jump into the river.  A search Saturday yielded no result.

Investigators are being assisted by divers from the civil protection service.  “We are also using sonar” explains Alain Remue of the missing persons’ unit.