An 86-year-old man from the West Flemish coastal municipality of De Panne has died after suffering a cardiac arrest during an argument with his neighbour. The 60-year-old neighbour with whom the dead man was arguing has been detained.
86-year-old West Fleming dies after suffering cardiac arrest during row with neighbour
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On Saturday afternoon two neighbours were engaged in a heated dispute on the Sint-Elisabethlaan in De Panne. The two had long been at loggerheads. Saturday’s argument was about noise nuisance. One of the neighbours wanted to hang a frame up on the wall of his home using a hammer and nail while the other wanted him to stop doing so because of the noise. Outside in the street tempers flared. One of the protagonists, an 86-year-old man suffered a cardiac arrest and died.
Given the history of feuding between the two men the police treated the incident as suspicious. The dead man had a head wound and there was a hammer near to where his body lay. It was the hammer that the 60-year-old neighbour had used early to hang up a picture frame. However, it transpired that the 86-year-old had not been attacked with the hammer but had died after suffering cardiac arrest.
His head injury was sustained when he fell to the ground. However, an autopsy revealed that more might have been behind his death and that he might have been pushed prior to his cardiac arrest. The 60-year-old neighbour has been detained on suspicion of “assault and battery resulting in death without having had the intent to kill”.
Suspect denies pushing his neighbour
The 60-year-old suspect’s lawyer Mathias Van Belleghem says that his client didn’t touch his neighbour.
"He firmly denies this and wants the case resolved as quickly as possible. He is cooperating fully with the investigation. We will be able to look at the case file tomorrow and the day after my client will appear before magistrate. In the interest of the investigation, we will not be commenting further until then".