In Denderleeuw (East Flanders), the bodies of a 51-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter have been recovered from a property. The family’s 17-year-old son has been arrested. The public prosecutor’s office has launched a murder investigation.
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17-year-old arrested after mother and daughter are found dead
Colin Clapson
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At 11 pm last night, police found the bodies of the two women in the hamlet of Iddergem, near Denderleeuw. The victims are a mother, aged 51, and her daughter, aged 20. The emergency services attended the scene, but it was too late to save the victims.
The family’s 17-year-old son has been arrested. According to information received by VRT News, the teenager killed his sister and mother with an axe.
Juvenile Court
The investigating judge, the coroner and a forensic team all attended the scene. The public prosecutor’s office has launched a murder investigation.
The 17-year-old is due to appear before the juvenile court later today. Nothing is yet known about the motive. As the case involves a minor, the public prosecutor’s office provides very little information.
What do we know so far?
What we do know is that the young man has now been questioned. Jeroen D’hondt, who is representing the 17-year-old, says that the questioning went “calmly”. “He answered the questions to the best of his ability,” the lawyer said. “He has made statements regarding motive, but given the situation, I cannot comment on that.”
The boy is likely to be placed in a youth care facility. “The investigation will proceed from there,” said D’hondt.
The lawyer has years of experience in criminal cases. Yet he admits that this is “a very bizarre case” for him.
“Usually there is something very clear-cut: drugs or extreme domestic violence that has occurred previously, for example. In that sense, this is very peculiar,” he says, pointing to the absence of such factors.