Primary X-Dossier victim-witnesses
Name |
Biography |
Regina Louf (X1) |
Born in 1969. Sent to her grandmother, the wealthy Cecile
Beernaert, in Knokke when 1,5 to 2 years old. The grandmother
owned a hotel-villa., where children, including X1, were abused
by a number of well known men. The grandmother was said to have
been a collaborator during WWII by running two brothels, one for
Nazi officers and one for regular Nazi soldiers. She was briefly
detained by civilians from Knokke after the war, but soon
released. As the story goes, she continued with a brothel at
another location. Regina often had to satisfy her grandmother
sexually. Everything that went wrong was blamed on Regina and
her grandmother continually screamed at her: she was evil; she
was a nobody; she was a whore; and because of that, her parents
didn't want her and she deserved the treatment she got. Her face
was regularly forced in her own urine; her fingers were immersed
in boiling water (her grandmother compared this to pain she
would feel in hell, where she was probably going to end up); she
was beaten with whips; razors and glass were hidden in her
schoolbag; and she was put under ice cold showers. Her
grandmother learned her how to suck penises at the age of three.
Regina received her first customers around this time, who in the
first few years weren't allowed to penetrate her vagina; the
anus was less of a problem, just as a number of tortures. When
she refused to undress in front of an abuser at age 3, another
girl was slashed with razors all over her body. The abusers then
screamed at hear that this is all her fault. Her face was rubbed
across the girl's bloody skin and she was forced to ask the girl
for forgiveness. Regina lost her virginity to Tony, who would
later be reintroduced to her as her pimp, at age 4 (in earlier
interviews she would state that she was 12 years old, repressing
the memories from her grandmother's house). He would participate
in some the rapes (sometimes by dogs) and tortures in the
following years, next to Paul Vanden Boeynants and others.
Videos and pictures were made of these events. Her first
daughter, Cheyenne, was born in February 1979 when she was 10
years old. 1998, Regina Louf, 'Zwijgen is voor daders - De
getuigenis van X1', p. 133-134: "Grandmother was in the
kitchen... I told her I was losing water. She said nothing, but
looked at my legs and wiped her hands in her skirt. She felt
with ice cold fingers in my panties and sent me to the
bedroom... I crawled onto the bed, went to lie in the fetal
position and sung silently to keep in control of my fears. About
an hour later the first contractions started... I didn't even
know how the baby would emerge out of my body, or through where.
I felt so incredibly vulnerable and longed desperately to an
adult. Then the men came. A baron, pépère, two brothers, a
police officer. They watched, forced me on the bed and when a
contraction started, pépère forced himself inside me. I was in a
complete panic... I squeezed hard in the arms of the baron. He
hit me in the face, once, twice, thrice." In PV 118.869
Regina gave the names: "When the contractions started her
grandmother made a phone call. The Lippens brothers, Vanden
Boeynants and the assistant commissioner of Knokke arrived.
[Baron] De Bonvoisin and Vander Elst arrived thereafter...
Vander Elst puts a knife on her throat while Bonvoisin rapes
her... She must masturbate while Vander Elst makes a number of
photos. Lippens rapes her with a razor blade. When the child
exited de Bonvoisin beat her. Directly after X1 gave birth she
was raped and sodomized. Her daughter disappeared six weeks
later. She only saw her [daughter] at the factory again (PV
118.872)." The factory in PV 118.872, December 18, 1996, is
ASCO, the (former) arms company of the Boas family, who are
close associates of Paul Vanden Boeynants. A lot of filming was
done at this location. After having been tortured for 48 hours,
and having been forced to kill a young child, Regina's daughter,
whom she hadn't seen since it went missing six weeks after
birth, was murdered. She was not allowed to lose consciousness
while being tortured with a knife in her vagina, and when she
briefly did at the moment the knife was taken out, her daughter
was murdered in front of her eyes. Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty,
Tony, and two gendarme officers were among those present at this
event. Tony, Nihoul, Jean-Paul Dumont, Michel Vander Elst,
Wilfried Martens, Paul Vanden Boeynants, Melchior Wathelet and
Baron de Bonvoisin all regularly went to the ASCO factory of
Roger Boas, which X1 has referred to as "the factory of the
video recordings". PV 116.253, November 30, 1996: "X1
recognizes two places where sacrifices of children have taken
place during videotaped parties. ASCO factory. Axory Parcels
firm. Sterrebeekstraat in Zaventem." In June 1979, Regina
was allowed back to her parents in Gent. The reason was that
Regina had told a friend, who usually walked home with her until
they reached the grandmother's villa, about the abuse. The
parents of this girl then invited Regina to a birthday party
where she retold her story. The result was that the girl's
parents, knowing Regina could never know all these details
without having experienced them, informed the principal, a nun,
of her school. Regina went to the directress and showed the
bruises in her neck. The nun told Regina that she was "a
fantasizer" and called up her grandmother. According to Regina,
during the phone call the nun looked at her with a mischievous
twinkle in her eyes, and ended the conversation by saying "I
feel sorry for you, such a granddaughter... that must not be
easy." When Regina came back from school she was suspended
on a hook at her grandmother's attic and tortured by her abusers
for hours, mainly by raping her with razors. Her best friend at
the time, Anke (the same Anke that, according to Regina, also
testified in 1996/1997?), was severely tortured in front of
Regina, for which she herself was blamed by the perpetrators.
Without informing any of the teachers or classmates, Regina was
taken from school a month before the ending of the year, and
sent to her parents in Gent. The parents of her classmate
thought that she had been taken away from her grandmother by
child care. Only in 1996, the parents found out this had not
been the case (were never interviewed as witnesses to Regina's
story). Regina's grandmother at the time was furious over her
"bad behaviour" and did not want to let her go. However, at the
time the grandmother seemed to have no choice as rumors started
to spread. Over the next several months Regina was able to
recover a bit from the traumas sustained at her grandmother's,
even though her parents totally ignored and neglected her. Both
parents hated each other and seldom communicated with each other
or with Regina. The rest of the family was also very nasty to
Regina. They "felt sorry" for her mother that she had to put up
with such a daughter. Some members of the family knew about the
abuse; others didn't and seemed to be just regular low life.
Regina thought that her mother became the way she was, because
her grandmother neglected and abused her the same way. At age
12, Regina was reintroduced by her mother to Antoine "Tony"
Vandenbogaert and was told: "From now on Tony is your owner".
She identified him as one of her torturers at her grandmother's
house, but pretended not to know him. One of the rules she had
been learned was never to recognize customers anywhere. Clients
always had to make the first move. Tony initially overwhelmed
her with attention, but quickly demanded sex in return (her
father also used to buy her presents in return for sex). He
began a psychological game with her, which was more
sophisticated but not less brutal than her grandmother's. He
brought her to parties at which extreme sadism was practiced:
"I knew some of them by name and some of them I did see on
tv at times." There was a lot of competition between the
girls as they all tried to avoid as much pain as possible. The
one who performed the worst usually received most of the
torture. The girls also tried to correct each other, because
whenever a girl did not cooperate, made mistakes or began to
cry, the others would be held responsible for that and receive
an additional torture session. Introduced to Clo (assumed to
have been Carine Dellaert) in late 1981, who was to become her
"sister". Tony figured people would be asking less questions if
he was seen with two young girls instead of one. Clo became one
of the few good friends of Regina, but was brutally murdered in
the first half of 1983, after she had been raped and tortured
while trying to deliver a baby. Some time before Clo's death,
Regina learned that Clo was an "angel" (meaning she would die)
and had ended up in the end-circuit. The only reason Clo was
kept alive for several more months was because she was pregnant,
and many customers liked pregnant girls. In 1982, Regina tried
to tell one of her teachers that she was abused and that her
parents apparently didn't care. The teacher went to talk with
the parents and became convinced that Regina was lying. Tony
told Regina that clients paid him 10,000 to 15,000 franks [about
250 to 375 euros] to spend 30 minutes with her, 50,000 franks
[about 1250 euros] for a day or a night, and 120,000 franks
[about 3000 euros] for a whole weekend. Underage girls were
often exchanged to seal certain illegal deals. The pimps would
take pictures during these events. Regina became one of the
girls that Nihoul would take with him to business meetings,
receptions, and diners so she could hang around persons he
pointed out. These persons were child abusers and this way
Nihoul reminded them that there was no way out. Tony was also
involved in blackmailing people. Regina was regularly taken to a
villa in Brussels in which a number of cameras had been
carefully hidden. The girls were shown where these cameras were
located, the reason being that they had to position their
(prominent) customers in such a way that their faces would be in
full view during the abuse. At least back in the seventies, it
was not possible to rotate the camera, or zoom in with it, as
the mechanism would be heard then. Regina and the other girls
were ordered to provoke violent behaviour in their customers.
Brief conversations were also encouraged, in which either the
customer would acknowledge he was having sex with an under aged
girl or in which the girl herself would mention her age. 1998,
Regina Louf, 'Zwijgen is voor daders - De getuigenis van X1', p.
99-103: "Since I was 8 or 9 years old, Mitch [Nihoul] would
often enough take me with him and give me the assignment to hang
around a certain customer. I liked doing that. I enjoyed seeing
them shamble around, their efforts to stay out of my way
unnoticed. I smiled when Mich asked me to stand next to a
customer to make a picture, and how the customer reluctantly
smiled and put a weak arm around my shoulder... The glances
which were then exchanged between the one taking the picture and
the customer were priceless. The customer knew he was trapped...
In the night they had been the boss, now they were prey... Too
bad that most of them, once they knew they had been trapped,
went to experiment even more during the night... In Brussels
there was a villa in which a room was set up with built-in
cameras. Even in the 1970s these cameras were so discrete that
only the people who maintained them and the child-hookers knew
where they were located... Why did I had to get those guys
clearly in the picture, why was I supposed to get them to hit me
and brutally rape me? Why was 'regular' sex often not enough?...
Blackmail, the word that was never mentioned, I only started to
really understand when I was thirteen, fourteen years old... The
deals that were struck between the perpetrators were negotiated
before I went to bed with them, while I was sitting with them at
the diner table - like the carrot in front of the mule to make
him go faster - or after the sex. As appetizer or dessert, it
made no difference to me, for them it was a way to keep each
other to the deals made, unwritten contracts with enormous
binding power. Because once you've had sex with a child, you are
branded... unless all parties keep their mouths shut. Then
nothing tastes sweeter than a child, one of the perpetrators
once remarked. Contracts between the business milieu and the
political world, contracts between businessmen amongst each
other, fraud with subsidies or licenses, setting up fake firms,
criminal contracts like arms trade... everything was possible.
And it always ended with sex and children... Pictures were
taken, in jest, to keep both parties to their contracts... The
men were brought to ideas by child pornography movies that were
played at parties... The pimps also had another tactic. They
invited a person who could be useful to them. They went to dine
with him, and took him - after he had been liquored up - to a
'party'. Men from the top layer of society are used to visiting
or getting offered prostitutes. They usually knew that something
like this would follow, and the prostitutes they would see upon
entering would be slightly older girls, between 16 [sexually
mature in Belgium] and 18 years old. More booze and cocaine
would be supplied, for ambience. And only then the 'prey' would
be taken to a room where a younger girl was waiting, like me,
then. I had the assignment to get him into bed with me and if I
didn't succeed in that sanctions would follow. The bed scene was
secretly filmed and served for blackmail purposes. Most men
probably realized only afterwards in what kind of hornet's nest
they now found themselves, but by then it was far too late...
Men were introduced to the network by colleagues, friends or
family members. Carefully or slowly, or briskly after a party.
Step by step customers, who first went to bed with me
cautiously, were stimulated to rougher sex. I was forced to help
them with that... They became complicit and at the same time
their mutual connections became tighter. Not one of these people
was still inclined to sign contracts with individuals outside
the network. If that happened one could make them pay dearly for
that... I always pretended to like their advances, I fought back
if they wanted to, I played their games. Then I stayed important
and didn't end in the end circuit. Because hidden to the outside
world children were dying at the orders of customers who were
willing to pay the money. The child-prostitutes all knew it, and
the longer you revolved in the circuit, the bigger the threat."
Regina's son Elijah was born in August 1982. Again she was raped
by several men just before giving childbirth. The baby was taken
away right after childbirth. When Regina asked what happened to
her baby, Tony sneered at her: "Ungrateful bitch, be happy
that he wasn't killed in front of your eyes. Sleep and never
think about it again, ever, you hear me!" Her son Tiu was
born on September 3, 1983 in the presence of her grandmother,
her mother, her father, Tony, and Serge Donners (connected to a
production company), and later murdered, apparently to punish
Regina for having advised Christine to talk with her parents
about the network she had ended up in. Christine Van Hees was 15
or 16 years old when she fell in love with Michel Nihoul. He
bought her a number of presents and was very nice to her. After
a while Nihoul convinced her, through his psychological games
("you are not a child anymore"; "I gave you so much"; "I'm a
grown man and I have certain needs"), to have sex with with
Regina and later with him. After a while "Chrissie" found out
about the real Nihoul, not the least through a ritual abuse
ceremony in which the stomach of a white bunny was slashed open.
During the abuse at this event a snuff movie was played in which
a two year old girl was raped, tortured and murdered. Christine
was murdered in February 1983, soon after the murder on Regina's
child. Mieke was murdered in November 1984 in the villa of her
grandmother by the same people that killed Christine. Secretly
gave birth to her son Nanook on June 16, 1984. Regina killed him
shortly afterwards by pressing him against her chest after she
heard Tony's car approaching. Tony praised her as boys were far
less valuable to him than girls. Around this time, in the summer
of 1984, Regina had become very depressed and apathetic.
However, when Tony told her, "when you are 16 you can come
live with me" she became convinced he had made plans to
have her killed, and began looking for a way to escape. Luckily,
she met Erwin, her future husband, in October 1984, and fell in
love with him right away. When things became more serious, Tony
told her to dump him and never speak to him again, which she
ultimately refused. Just by being present in her life, Erwin
dramatically screwed up business as usual between Tony and
Regina, although the abuse certainly did not stop. Erwin
followed Regina in 1986 to the new school she picked, just to be
able to protect her. Married Erwin on June 29, 1988, one day
before graduation, and moved out. Within a month of living
together, Regina began to relive the abuse in her mind and had
continuous nightmares. Went to look for professional help and
was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. A continuous
process of trying to reintegrate her mind had begun, and locally
she became very active in the child abuse support circuit where
she made a number of new friends. Regina's relationship to Tony
and the network from 1988 to the 1996 Dutroux affair is not very
clear, largely because De Baets and his team were kicked off her
case around the time when she began to speak more openly about
this period. Certainly in the early period, it appears that Tony
kidnapped and raped her on more than one occasion, inquiring
through Regina's mother if her husband, who had become a trucker
and often was away from the house for days, was home. At some
point when talking to De Baets (after the 1996 Dutroux arrest),
Regina pointed out the picture of Katrien de Cuyper, whom she
had (briefly) known by that name. The 15 year old Katrien de
Cuyper disappeared in the evening of December 17, 1991 in
Antwerp and was found dead on June 22, 1992. The autopsy that
followed showed she had been murdered quite soon after the
kidnapping. According to Regina, Katrien's murder happened
somewhere in the last half of 1990 to late 1991/early 1992,
after Tony and an associate had come to visit her. Tony's
partner in crime stayed with her kid(s) (Eli was born on July 3,
1990. Yentl born on July 18, 1991. Janek and Hannah after that.
Regina thought she already had Eli, but wasn't sure about Yentl)
and Regina was told to cooperate or her children, and possibly
her husband, would be murdered. Regina was taken to Castle
Kattenhof, near Antwerp (found out by investigators after
descriptions given by Regina). Here she was forced to kill a "Katrien".
Tony, Nihoul, Bouty, Michel Vander Elst, Joost Bert, Leopold
Lippens, the apparent owner of the castle, and someone close to
Vanden Boeynants were all present. The purpose of this temporary
kidnapping was to ensure her silence about the network. When
Regina saw Katrien, she thought Tony had started over again with
other girls. In the last couple of hearings of Regina by De
Baets, she began to describe how she had been taken 15 to 20
times to Castle Kattenhof between 1990 and 1995. Besides Katrien,
she had seen 6 to 7 murders on children: a Turkish girl of 9, a
girl of maybe 11 or 12 years, a short-haired boy of 7 or 8
years, a blond girl of 15 or 16 years old, a North-African boy
of 3 or 4 years, and two girls of 10 - one named Veronique. Even
though she was forced, Regina had the idea that she had become
"one of them". At some point De Baets asked if the Turkish girl
might have been Loubna Benaissa, to which Regina answered "could
be", meaning that she just didn't know. Four days later Loubna
was found at the home of a pedophile and newspapers would later
spin the story by saying Regina told De Baets she had seen
Loubna die (and forget to mention other very important facts
about the case). A gendarme officer said to the team of De Baets
that Regina had already tried to inform him about the abuse
network in 1989. Nothing was done with this information. Another
attempt was made in 1994. 1998, 'Zwijgen is voor Daders,' p.
186: "We did agree that Connerotte and Bourlet were white
ravens within the system. How long had Tania and I not tried to
work with the gendarmerie? We stimulated victims of sexual
abuse, like rape victims, to testify against their perpetrators.
Tania had given a hint about my perpetrators to the gendarmerie.
In 1994 I had given her my permission - after Tony had
threatened me in my new house when Erwin was out working - to
tell the BOB in Gent about locations and persons in the region
of Gent where children were still abused. I didn't dare to go
myself, out of fear of my pimp, but Tania invited the BOB
officers and passed everything through. The gendarme officers
weren't even willing to produce an official report, even though
they informed her that they knew these locations and persons and
knew something was wrong there. But, they said, they didn't want
to burn their fingers on that. Patsy Sorensen of Payoke [former
socialist politician who runs a center for victims of
prostitution and human trafficking] had the same experience as
we: nobody wanted to listen." In 1994, Regina indirectly
contacted the gendarmerie/police after Tony had threatened her
at her new home. The two inspectors that went to visit her at
her home told they know something was going on, but were not
willing to burn their fingers. That was the end of it. After
Dutroux and Nihoul were arrested in August 1996, Regina's friend
Tania convinced her to testify. Her primary interviewers,
Patriek De Baets and his team, and supported by Connerotte and
Bourlet, trusted her and were very successful in substantiating
many of her claims. As with most of the X-witnesses, not to a
number of other abuse victim-witnesses that came forward or were
approached, the hearings were difficult and took a lot of time,
simply because all the victims were extremely traumatized. The
interviews basically were (quite effective) therapy for them.
Regina gave a description of how the interviews went (1998, 'Zwijgen
is voor Daders,' p. 206-208): "It is so hard for me to share
my Dissociative disorder with other people. I'm an expert in
hiding my handicaps, and now of all people I have to explain to
BOB-ers that I live with different alters in me. I expect that
they will declare me absolutely nuts. Still, this doesn't
happen. Being taken serious by these people is new for me. I
understand all to well that it is not easy to work with me. I am
bashful, frugal with information, laugh my fears away, evade the
pain that comes up as soon as I have to talk about the abuse by
introducing long silences, or simply do not answer... Nobody can
know how immensely difficult it is to break with my carefully
imposed code of silence and still to testify." Regina's
mind had been shattered in numerous alters, among them Kenny, a
young alter who dealt with some of the worst torture; Stone, one
of the toughest who answered to Tony and controlled her fears;
Hoer (Whore), who could best satisfy Tony and the other abusers;
Moon, born to deal with extreme cold; Meisje (Girl), the
innocent, sensitive kid. 'Zwijgen is voor Daders,' p. 206-207:
"... Meisje [Girl] sits on the window sill, saturated with
pain and sadness. She feels the presence of the other victims so
well that she can almost touch them with her thoughts. Shivering
she crawls against the woodwork of the window and presses
herself against it as if she wants to disappear in it... Patriek
[De Baets] comes standing next to her, leaning against the
window sill. 'Who are the girls you still remember, girl?' he
asks, coincidentally pronouncing her name [of the active alter,
"Girl"]. 'Vero, Mieke, Clo, Noelle, Chrissie...' she says
fluently, because she remembered every face, every child.
Patriek was perplexed. After such a difficult hearing, all of a
sudden he heard his witness, in a young girl's voice, give a
series of names that made him silent. 'Are they still alive?'
Meisje [Girl] lifted her shoulders. 'Some are, I think. Others
are not.'... 'Who died?' he asked calmly. 'Chrissie,' I
whispered. Patriek asked how. 'They burned her.' 'Where?' 'In a
basement,' she whispered even more quiet. And she withdrew deep
within herself, fighting against the odor of the liquid that
they had poured over her. And then when he wanted to ask more,
she shook her head. 'I want to go home,' she begged. Away from
those horrible memories. But Chrissie didn't leave her head
anymore. Her screams, her begs for help... Tiu [Regina's
murdered child]. Everything came together that week, as if time
was something malleable, and became alive again as soon as the
images were recalled. My son, who I had cherished; Chrissie who
soon thereafter was gruesomely punished; the screaming in my
head. The madness I had felt in the days after. The madness that
had started when they... but I refused to let the images come
through..." "Pain? Indeed. It hurt so much that I could only
tell via a detour who that day were with Chrissie. It almost
drove Patriek and Philippe up the wall. Before them they saw a
grown, frightened woman, while they had to communicate with
Kenny, the heavily traumatized alter, who had become almost
autistic after the death of Tiu and Chrissie. Kenny carried that
information with him, but could not speak... stubborn,
frightened, evasive, he pushed the questions of the BOB officers
away. Only through the support of other alters, who listened
along and were located close to him, it was possible for Kenny,
stammering and rambling, to tell his story." Regina gave
the first names of about 35 children in the network that she had
witnessed being murdered or whom she suspected had been murdered
(those who disappeared suddenly for a variety of reasons). She
forgot the names of another thirty or so children. The murders
she described mainly happened in the 1976-1988 period. 1998, 'Zwijgen
is voor Daders,' p. 218-219: "February - March - April
'97... I have now been through a whole period in which the
alters were manifesting more prominently, and I know my own
selves now very well. The little ones, as I call my younger,
hurt alters, have largely gotten the chance to tell their story,
without heaven falling on their heads. It sounds strange, but
the younger alters still believe that very bad things will
happen when they break their code of silence. As for the older
alters, the tough ones, the grown ups, it becomes clear that
talking only liberates us. The big secret doesn't weigh as much
anymore. It is enriching to share all these horrible facts that
have happened to us with the investigators. Even if not one
perpetrator is arrested, the experience this team gained in
working with victims of heavily traumatizing facts is worth
gold." In September 1996, Regina handed a whole pile of
papers written by her since 1989. In these papers she already
detailed how Tony hired her to other men who tortured and abused
her, sometimes while making movies. Some papers were written
after she recognized one of her abusers on tv. These papers were
dated by the BOB and concluded they had indeed been written long
before the Dutroux affair. Already in November 1996, Regina
noticed that pressure had begun to built on De Baets and team by
"sceptical" colleagues. To appease this group De Baets allowed
some of the officers in the videoroom and made sure to keep the
camera running during breaks. This way he tried to make sure
that nobody could accuse him, or his colleagues, of manipulating
the witness during breaks. This effort failed, as in December
the newly-appointed coordinator of the whole Dutroux and
X-investigation, gendarmerie commandant Jean-Luc Duterme, began
to "re-read" (read: manipulate) the existing statements of X1.
In early 1997, Duterme scrapped all of the 43 addresses where De
Baets and (originally) Connerotte wanted to conduct searches.
Instead, on March 20, 1997, after a bogus search at the Abrasax
cult, Duterme allowed only one address to be searched: the home
of Regina, turning her from witness to suspect. On July 10, Van
Espen, Langlois, Duterme and three other "re-readers" of the X1
testimonies secretly came together and decided to "temporarily"
relieve De Baets and his team from the X-Dossier investigation.
This became final in August, when De Baets and team were
officially charged with manipulating X1 (charges from which they
were totally acquitted in June 2000). De Baets and his team were
replaced with very abusive interrogators who made it clear from
the beginning that they were convinced Regina was making
everything up. The first thing they did was to organize an
informal talk outside of the bureau and without any notes or
video being taken. They indirectly told Regina that they weren't
interested in the truth: "We just want our paycheck at the end
of the month." They insinuated that she must also have had some
fun with Tony, because "weren't you in love with him?" They told
her that her experiences of rape and torture couldn't have been
so bad, because she's having a family now, a nice house, kids,
and is laughing again. They stopped doing any field work to
investigate her claims. Regina somehow has to revisit all these
places herself and subpoena her suspects, so she can provide
some "evidence". They then began questioning her friend Tania
who had nothing to do with the case besides having made the
initial call to Connerotte and De Baets. When she is asked to
come to the bureau it turns out she is interrogated in a readily
accessible room with X1's supposedly well-protected files strewn
all over the place. The investigators insinuate that she must
have known De Baets a lot longer, that she probably was involved
in the same network as Regina, and that she was a prostitute.
Tania felt very much intimidated at the end of the conversation.
Like most others, the newspaper 'Nieuwsblad' on February 5,
2004, summarized this event as: "Also, she [Regina] has
always refused to be interrogated by the new investigating
team." In November 1997, journalists Annemie Bulté and
Douglas De Coninck wrote a letter to Regina, and explained that
her dossiers were now available to anyone with the right
connections, that they were worried about the turn the
investigation had taken, and that they were working on a
publication in De Morgen (newspaper). Regina got along very well
with them. In December 1997, Regina wrote a letter to Marc
Verwilghen, chairman of the Dutroux commission, who wrote back
that he supported De Baets and that his research was solid. On
January 6, 1998, the first article about X1 appeared in De
Morgen, soon creating a firestorm in the media. According to
Regina, the authors had not twisted one word she had spoken. The
average reader (at least initially) supported the article and
Regina. That afternoon, a VTM team knocked on the door
unannounced which irritated her. Many other TV programs and
newspapers began calling in that day. Regina's mother also
called her up, until then not knowing she was X1. When Regina
explained to her why she wanted Tony punished, all her mother
could say was "What did he do then, Regine? We have to talk."
The next Saturday, after a large interview with her had appeared
in De Morgen, Regina called her mother to say goodbye one last
time. Her mother promised to leave her alone, but within 15
minutes her father was at her doorstep, screaming: "Ah
Regine, you wanted it yourself. You couldn't wait to fall in
love with Tony. You couldn't be stopped, goddamned!... If
anything happens to your mother - and you better remember this -
then I will hold you accountable, you hear me! I have the means!
I will break you!" Luckily for Regina, besides her husband,
her parents-in-law were also present, which finally convinced
them after all these years that she had been telling the truth.
Even though their son had known all about Tony and her parents,
all they had seen until then were friendly parents who spoiled
their daughter (which were bribes and reminders of how
"thankful" her DID traumatized daughter should be to them). On
TV, her parents denied knowing anything about the abuse, claimed
that her daughter was crazy and that she should be put in a
mental institution. The next Thursday, Regina was allowed to
speak her mind at the well known Panorama TV show. As with all
interviews, she refused to give names in order to "avoid
sensationalism". After this interview and facing the cameras
(for which she was deathly afraid) she felt more relieved than
ever before. Soon thereafter, her therapist also noticed a
remarkable improvement and said it would not be long anymore
before her mind would be an integrated whole again. She would
still regularly have a difficult time dealing with the memories,
but this should become less over time. In the days, weeks and
months thereafter, Regina and her testimonies were ridiculed by
virtually the entire media. The program 'Au nom de la loi'
clearly was fed information by someone close to the
investigation. It capitalized on every mistake X1 had made
during the interviews and left out everything that would have
substantiated her story. It was the same story with Knack, like
Au nom de la loi famous for their support of de Bonvoisin and
Vanden Boeynants. La Derniere Heure, De Standaard, Het
Nieuwsblad, almost every newspaper and magazine began to attack
her. 'Zwijgen is voor Daders,' p. 257: "Only very few
reporters are still listening to me, listen to my cry for help.
They are not allowed to publish or broadcast. They all tell me
they are stonewalled by their bosses... The aggression of some
of the magazines, newspapers and tv programs is frightening.
This is not normal anymore, this is a war in which the victims
have become disposable waste." Interestingly, a number of
the British newspapers, who normally do not touch important
stories in their own country, were quite supportive of X1. Even
though Regina was ridiculed by almost the entire media, it did
lead to several interrogations of Tony and her parents. On
January 28, 1998, under the supervision of substitute magistrate
Nicole De Rouck and prosecutor Jean Soenen at the BOB in Gent,
Regina was confronted with her father against her will. Before
her father was allowed in, De Rouck had an interesting
conversation with Regina, which was caught on tape. While Regina
was severely distressed by her parents' statements on TV, De
Rouck began to tell her how her parents still loved her and
cared about her. This went on for quite some time, and because
De Rouck also forgot to mention that the camera was running (and
a number of other things), some investigators think that De
Rouck tried to get Regina to a point where she would withdraw
her charges. Again, this didn't happen and her father, who would
deny everything, was eventually allowed in. De Rouck would later
state publicly that nothing Regina said checked out and that she
herself pursued the relationship with Tony (an interesting
contradiction all by itself). Tony was interrogated by the BOB
in Gent for the first time on February 3, 1998. He denied having
known Nihoul, the other people X1 talked about, or even that he
had sex with her. On March 12, Tony was confronted by three
women who confirmed parts of X1's story. Tony denied having
known the women. On April 23, 1998, Tony was again summoned to
the BOB in Gent to testify for a third time, followed by a
confrontation with Regina. Gendarme officers were joking with
Tony and apologizing that he had to come all the way from
Antwerp to testify about what they saw as a ridiculous affair. 'Zwijgen
is voor Daders,' p. 272: "On April 23, the day of Dutroux's
just as spectacular as ridiculous escape, I am confronted with
Tony at the BOB in Gent. Hours I'm waiting in a stuffy little
bureau, with a Gendarme officer to guard me until I, almost
broken from anxiety, without any preparation am pushed into a
room where my pimp is already chatting comfortably with a
Gendarme officer behind the desk... I know from the BOB officer
who brought me to the bureau that he [Tony] already had made
certain confessions... There are no cameras. Just at this
crucial moment they think video is not necessary... No
psychological assistance. With five men in one room. My anger
dissolves and make way for panic, a claustrophobic feeling and
fear. I want to get away, I'm afraid. There is no break, neither
a moment to recover from the shock to see him again. The
Gendarme officer from Gent explains what I told about the abuse
that Tony put me through. My pimp is right there!... I fight to
stay upright, to not shout out that I will withdraw everything
if they just let me go... He coldly admits that he abused me
since I was twelve years old - he first tried to say it was at
14, but after a remark from me he admitted I was twelve when it
started - in all sorts of ways, multiple times a week, with the
knowledge of my parents. He admits, with a faint smile on his
face, that he had a key of my parents' house. Faltering, with my
head down, I tell how he lent me out for the first time during
parties in Gent. He nodded and raised his shoulders. He names
the man, who I can only describe, by name. He confesses how he
forced my friends into playing sex games... Only a severely
shortened version is typed out. I watch it in despair. Why
aren't they filming? Why does he get the chance to adapt his
version, after they have asked him the same question a second
time, because they hadn't typed the answer? These are
professionals?... I ask for a break, I want to get away from
this stuffy room, but it is refused. So I use the same trick
from my childhood: I have to go to the bathroom. Danny, the
Brussels BOB, follows me closely. Apparently, I'm better guarded
that day than Dutroux... Halfway down the hall I crawl against
the wall. I start to cry, throw my hands in front of my face,
and it hurts so much!... I went to sit down with my head bent
down. I know that I should attack him, tell him what he had done
to me, repeat what I had said during the interviews. I can't do
it. I might be able to do it, if my therapist was present, or
another person I could trust, but I can't do it when surrounded
by people I don't trust and who are looking at me with scorn...
[After the interrogation] the BOB officer from Gent gives me pat
on the shoulders and tells me I should be happy. Happy? I look
at him with flaming eyes. Happy to hear that he confesses
without remorse, that he is able to go free, that he can make
other victims again? Happy with this consolation prize? Man, get
lost. That same day, before Tony confessed he was my pimp - with
the comfort of a man who knows he's never going to be punished -
the magistrates had decided to begin closing the X-Dossiers,
including that of X1." Only the newspaper De Morgen
prominently reported about Tony's confession. 1999, 'De
X-dossiers', Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulté, and
Douglas De Coninck, p. 503-504: "Anja D. is also
interviewed. She has been pointed out by a number of former
classmates as the best friend that Regina had in the years 1984
and 1985... [PV 103.387, September 25, 1997, BOB Gent:] 'You
show me a picture which I recognize as showing Tony, being the
older man with whom X1 had a sexual relationship... I only got
knowledge of this relationship during the fact that I often went
to the house of X1. I went to sleep at least one weekend per
month at X1's... It sometimes happened that Tony went up with X1
to the room of the mother of X1. There they had sexual
intercourse. Tony could arrive at any moment. It so happened
that Tony could arrive very late in the evening. I myself
determined that there was sexual intercourse between X1 and
Tony. It is so that the room of X1 was right next to the room of
the mother. It happened that I was still sleeping when Tony had
sex with X1 at that moment in the next room... I went past the
room, and the door was open. Then I conclusively saw the sexual
intercourse between X1 and Tony. By the way, at one
time Tony asked me if I didn't want to join them. I declined....
Pertaining to the reaction of the parents of X1, it is true that
both knew about the relationship. The father absolutely was
aware of the relationship, but wrapped himself in silence... It
sometimes happened that Tony was gone with X1 the whole
afternoon, sometimes also a short while. X1 never told me where
they had been... In my opinion the relationship between this man
and X1 had already been going on for quite some time... I think
she absent more than the average pupil, but it couldn't be
called 'a lot'." 1999, 'De X-dossiers', p. 503: "The
first childhood friend of Regina Louf who is interviewed in the
summer of 1997 is Kristelle M. [PV 103.011, September 1, 1997,
BOB Gent, officer Jan Vincent]. She was in the same class in the
years 1983-84 and 1984-85... '[Regina] sometimes disappeared
from school in the afternoon', Kristelle remembered. If it is
true what this woman says, then the re-readers of the dossier
Van Hees can fold a boat from the absence register that they saw
as 'proof' that Regina Louf impossibly could have been in
Brussels in the early evening of February 13, 1984. What
Kristelle M. remembered above all, is that she continually
talked about sex. She told how she had a relationship with 'an
older man'. According to M., the whole class assumed that she
was lying. Not Kristelle M. She had seen with her own eyes how
this 'older man' picked up Regina after school. And there was
something else: Regina at some point told her that she was
pregnant of that older man. Kristelle M. also knew that
Regina often spoke about a 'female friend with whom she could
amuse herself and with whom she often went out in the
Boudewijnstraat'. She didn't remember the name of the friend
anymore, 'but it could have been Christine, Carine, Caroline or
Claudine'. Kristelle M. could also tell that Regina, as a
kid of 14, drank alcohol and one morning arrived in class and
'smelled of liquor'. One time she arrived at school with a
clearly visible bruise..." The day after the confrontation
with Tony, Regina was confronted with Emile Dellaert, the father
of Clo (Carine). Regina was there when Clo was murdered and knew
how her father had sold her to the network. At the time of Clo's
disappearance, Emile had already been suspected by the police
and his ex-wife for a whole number reasons. For example, they
were asking themselves why he waited a week to contact the
police, why he claimed that Clo had ran away even though she
hadn't taken anything with her, why he made "sensual" photos of
his daughter, why Clo was often heard screaming in the weeks
before her disappearance, why she had become so extremely afraid
of the woods all of a sudden (she was a member of the scouts),
or why witnesses at the scouting club claimed that father and
daughter were acting more like a couple in love. It's also
interesting to note that Emile had already been investigated for
accusations of incest in 1977, next to suspicions against him
that he had an affair with an under aged girl in the Netherlands
in 1965. But to the investigators of the X1 case that seemingly
all didn't matter. Regina refused to cooperate anymore, which
was seen as the evidence that she had never known Carine
Dellaert. 1999, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulté, and
Douglas De Coninck, 'De X-dossiers', p. 501-502: "Let's call
her Fanny V. It took us two phone calls to find her. Few have
known Carine Dellaert as well as she did. They were classmates
in the school years 1977-78 and 1978-79 in the town school
Gezusters Loveling in the Van Hulthemstraat in Gent. 'We became
friends in sixth grade', Fanny says. 'I was eleven or twelve
then, Carine thirteen, I believe. What I can tell you, dates
from that period.' Fanny has to chuckle when she hears about the
conclusions of the District Attorney's office in Gent. In the
official reports it is reported that her friend was a
hardworking pupil which never had any troubles at home. 'In any
case she was a year older than the rest of the class', Fanny
says. 'She already had failed one of the lower classes. I looked
up to her a lot. I was still a child, she a real woman. She was
physically and mentally so much stronger than we. When my
mother heard that she had become my best friend, she went to
complain about that with the school's management. Because I had
said to my mother that Carine regularly had sex with her father
and also with other men. 'No, Carine was not happy, not at
all. On the playground we sometimes sat silently next to each
other the whole time. I felt she was suffering immensely under
the situation. She wanted to run away from home, she often spoke
about that: "Run away, far away from here." 'She told me that
she had to sleep with many men... As far as Fanny remembered,
Carine Dellaert told her that this primarily happened at her
home. I was still a child, didn't understand anything and didn't
ask more questions. What I do remember is that her mother knew
nothing about this. I used to ask that all the time: and how
about your mother, what does she think? She's always gone, she
said...' After the lower school, in 1979, Fanny V. lost
contact with Carine Dellaert. 'I never saw her again.' She
[Fanny] went to another school and got to know other people
there. One of them - we are not making this up - was Regina Louf.
'Regina talked to almost no one', Fanny continues. 'If Regina
and Carine knew each other? To me that seems perfectly possible.
Regina also had her secret, she was very introvert. If Regina
and Carine knew each other through such a circuit it would have
been hard for me to find out. At school you only saw the facade.
I thought that you could compare them, their attitudes. I
have bought the book of Regina, but I'm afraid to read it. I
have wanted to start a few times, but there are things in
there... it hurts me too much.'" In late April 1998,
substitute magistrate Nicole De Rouck, who had been involved in
bringing together Regina and her father for an interrogation
(intimidation), announced that Regina (indeed) had sex with Tony
since she was 12 years old (something which the Justice
Department would try to spin by claiming she was 14 years old
when the "relationship" began), but that it happened too long
ago for Tony to still be prosecuted. Then she stated that Regina
herself had pursued the "relationship" with Tony and that only
after the Dutroux affair she came to see it as abuse. Needless
to say that several complaints were filed against De Rouck for
publicly defending pedophilia. On April 28, De Rouck stated:
"We have investigated the testimonies of X1 to the smallest and
most absurd details and all of them have turned out to be
incorrect". The investigation into X1 was officially closed
on June 2, 1998. In May 1998, Regina met Mieke (not to be
confused with the one murdered in November 1984), a girl from
the same abuse network who knew the same perpetrators. They had
last seen each other in 1979. Mieke had been terribly persecuted
for demanding a correction of a TV program that attacked X1. By
the time she met Regina she had lost everything, including her
home and her daughter. The two women noticed how "somebody" was
trying to shut Mieke up and keep her away from Regina. Regina
reacted by taking Mieke in and making her part of the family.
Mieke's spirits improved dramatically and together they began
taken legal steps to get Mieke's daughter back (which was met
with stiff opposition). Tiny Mast, the mother of Kim en Ken
Heyrman, who disappeared in 1994, became a good friend of
Regina. She had also been treated very badly by the
investigators. May 2, 2002, BBC, 'Regina Louf's testimony':
"Regina Louf was the first of 11 people to come forward to talk
of their harrowing experiences at the hands of Belgium's
paedophile networks. She told investigators how, from her
earliest childhood, she'd been used in a paedophile ring. This
had included her grandmother, her parents and a pimp - Tony. She
now says "It was big business - blackmail - there was a lot of
money involved." She knew, she said, that sessions were secretly
filmed without the clients' knowledge... Senior judges, one of
the country's most powerful politicians - now dead - and a very
influential banker were included... One of the regular
organisers of these parties, she said, was the man she knew as 'Mich',
Jean Michel Nihoul. The sessions not only involved sex, they
included sadism, torture and murder; and again, she described in
detail, the place, the victims and how they were killed. She
also claimed the young Marc Dutroux was there. "At these parties
Nihoul was a sort of party beast while Dutroux was more on the
side." Regina Louf's testimony was vitally important." On
p. 278-279 of her biography, Regina mentioned about 50 persons
in the gendarmerie, support groups, journalists and her personal
surroundings who took her serious.
P.S.: Important note from Patriek De Baets about the alleged
four babies of X1: "'About those four childbirths, followed
by murders, I never believed that', says adjutant De Baets
later. 'That she lost at least one child, to me that seems to be
certain. What bothers her most, is that that child has faded
from history. You noticed during interviews that she had a
strong urge to give her lost child - or children - a place in
her narrative. That was the most important to her. I did not see
this as intentionally lying. It was clear that she had great
trouble finding her way in her memories. We became angry about
that at some point. She kept mixing up facts with each other of
which you could see that they weren't right. And still we had to
listen, I thought. We were only at the beginning. I estimated
that we, if we could have proceeded, would only have had a clear
picture of her past after a year or two. In between we had to
verify. And that's what we did, how much we were accused
afterwards for not having done that.' It could be a coincidence,
but the first verifications of the testimony of X1 were direct
hits." (1999, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulte and
Douglas De Coninck, 'De X-Dossiers', p. 167) |
Nathalie
Cannoodt (X7) |
This girl had been given the pseudonym "Nora
de Boodt" in the 1999 book 'The X-Dossiers'
Born in 1968. When investigators approached her, she
initially pretended that nothing was going on with her. After
investigators went to talk to her a second time two days later,
she had undergone a serious transformation and appeared very
pale and disturbed. Between her tears she mentioned some things
about her father (abused her at age 14) and said that there were
"things about which she couldn't speak." She remembered that her
father had a photo lab in which she was not allowed and that he
liked to mutilate her sister with cigarettes. Briefly testified
to the investigators at Neufchateau and was designated the code
X7. An investigator claimed she probably was a very valuable
witness, but that they never got enough time to work with her
(because of the Langlois-Duterme group that was taking over).
She was briefly investigated by other investigators of the BOB
in Gent, but as usual didn't trust them one bit. In her last two
testimonies, Nathalie did confirm that she was the best friend
of X1 between the age of 10 and 14, that she knew about X1's
sexual relationship with Tony (X1 told her since the age of 12)
and some of the abuse, that she knew about the sexual
relationship between Tony and the mother of X1, that she had
visited the house of X1's grandmother and that it was forbidden
for her to visit the the first floor. The investigators noticed
that she was very traumatized. |
Chantal Storme
|
This girl had been given the pseudonym
"Conny De Windt" in the 1999 book 'The X-Dossiers'
Born in 1968. Daughter of Roland Storme (b. 1933) and Jenny
Vannieuwenhuyse (b. 1932). Her father was into child
pornography, and porn videos and magazines were strewn all over
her parent's house. Even while as young as 4, her mother
masturbated in front of her while father strolled around the
house naked. Her grandmother, Maria Donche-Vannieuwenhuyse (b.
1910), was into Satanism, wanted to initiate her and was in the
possession of Satanic books. The mother and grandmother of
Chantal blamed her for their misfortunes. When she was 6, her
parents moved to Kustlaan 60 in Knokke. In Knokke she was sent
to the villa-hotel of X1's grandmother, who introduced Storme to
the abuse network. Chantal confirmed the abuse that X1 underwent
and that she underwent the same, albeit less heinous, treatment.
She confirmed the abuse took place in mainly two rooms on the
first floor (room 7 & 9, as said by X1) and that she was forced
not only to have sex with customers, but also with X1. Like X1,
she talked about tying each other up before customers came in.
Chantal did recall a person with the nickname "Monsieur", but
couldn't remember any other names. She also recognized the house
of Leopold Lippens, but never went there (PV 150.815, March 20,
1997). Whenever customers (as usual, without luggage) came by
who she did not have to satisfy, she had to be quiet and was
forbidden to go upstairs to X1. One time, she saw X1 being
threatened with a revolver by her (X1's) grandmother. She was a
good friend of X1 until X1 was sent back to Gent. When Chantal
was confronted with the investigators in late 1996 she burst out
in tears, knowing immediately what this was about. Even before
the first interview, she handed over a pile of papers and
drawings from her youth and from the period in which she was
taken up in a mental institution. The pictures included demons
with huge penises (with the word 'Satan' sometimes written next
to it), naked men and women, scissors and vibrators. In May
1995, she stopped working with the investigators. Her husband
hadn't known a whole lot about her background of abuse, and had
now ended up in a terrible (verbal) fight with her father. The
father admitted that he had brought Chantal a few times to the
villa in question, but denied knowing what happened there. Then
he said that these old histories weren't worth remembering and
it might be better for his daughter to be taken up in a mental
institution again. Several days after this discussion Chantal
attempted suicide by taking an overdose of medicines, something
which she had tried four times before in the past several years.
As a result, she was taken up in a mental institution on May 27.
When the father was interrogated he claimed this whole event was
the fault of examining magistrate Connerotte. |
X2 |
Police officer who worked on one aspect of the Dutroux
investigation. When the X1 case was discussed during a meeting,
participants noticed she seemed to become very upset. After
discussing her history of child abuse with one of her superior
officers (sergeant Michel Clippe) she decided to become a
witness. On November 6, 1996, she was driven around Knokke and
pointed out to investigators the villas and hotels where she had
been abused from the mid to late 1980s (after which she got out
of the network) by bankers, businessmen, lawyers, police
officers, and more regular people. At least two of the locations
in Knokke where X2 claimed to have been abused were also pointed
out by X1. Another street designated by X2 faced the hotel of
X1's grandmother. Additionally, some of the abusers mentioned by
X2 turned out to be the same as those mentioned by X1, like Paul
Vanden Boeynants, Baron de Bonvoisin and the Lippens brothers.
There appears to be some confusion whether or not X1 recognized
X2 from a picture (see note 124 of the main article). X2's
interviewers were Christian Pirard and his colleague Luc
Delmartino, with whom she got along quite well, especially
Pirard. She was assigned psychological assistance, but this
assistant soon became (literally) depressed by X2's testimonies.
The interviews were far less emotional than those with X1 or
Nathalie W., probably because compared to other girls in the
network, X2 received a relatively mild treatment, and was mainly
brought along by her abuser(s) as a bystander. PV 117.535,
November 19, 1996: "The subjects relate to the mistress [X2]
of Karel, a high magistrate in Brussels... Karel had more and
more sexual requirements (fellatio - erotic clothes - particular
positions...). He made use of his physical power... to impose
his desires. Then he brought her to parties where she wore a
wig. Parties took place in an apartment, but also in the
Netherlands. In Knokke he [Karel] also received other
magistrates from Brussels (Delvoie - Raspe)... Parties in Villas
in Knokke around the golf court. The villas have been designated
[by X2] (PV 116.799). Also in the villa of Maurice Lippens.
Parties with underage girls in the Cromwel hotel in Knokke.
Present: Delvoie - Karel - X2 - Lippens - Van Gheluwe - Etienne
Davignon. The girls knew where to go and with whom. Lippens hits
the little girls. Several meetings between Karel and Davignon in
the Memling hotel with the two Lippens." She personally
heard and saw plenty of things however, and was informed by
other girls in the network about more brutal things that were
going on. One girl, Eva, who would later disappear after having
been carried into a SM chamber, often told her about activities
at the domain of "Liliane de Bruxelles" (the 2nd wife of King
Leopold III), who owned Castle d'Argenteuil, close to Brussels
and Waterloo. PV 118.384, December 13, 1996: "Parties in
Eindhoven in 1988. An underage girl, a regular at this place,
underwent some cruelties and was never seen again. This girl
told X2 that all men she had to endure were crazy. She spoke
about a castle near Brussels where she went on Easter 1987, to a
madwoman, called Liliane. She said that it would be necessary to
return to the garden there. X2 understands that some bodies
could be buried there. X2 thinks about Liliane de Rety." PV
151.419/97, note from the investigators: "See the statement
of [Nathalie] Waeterschoot with regard to bodies that would have
been buried in the park of a castle. Liliane could be Lilianne
de Rethy and the castle quoted by Waet." PV 117.535,
November 19, 1996: "Also parties with under aged children in
Eindhoven with Delvoie. 18th century Castle. Departure in convoy
from Knokke. The cars with German license plates followed with
the little girls. Reception at the castle = a woman = price of
2,000 Belgian franks per person [about 50 euros]. It is
necessary to come with another person. It is necessary to take
off clothes. A bikini might be accepted. Swimming pool - sauna -
solar bench - cold buffet. [There are] rooms without doors to
[different] themes. Room with mirrors and cameras. Room with
several mattresses. Room with obstetric tables - handcuffs -
chains. Karel and X2 [went] 30-50 times to this castle
[seemingly an average of about once a month]. Same little girls
as those in Cromwell. Clients of the castle: Patrick Denis...
Jean-Pierre van Rossem... Baron de Bonvoisin... Jean-Paul
Dumont... friend of Patrick Denis = Carine... Another Carine and
Patricia who work in the Palace of Justice in Bruxelles...
Benoit Hubert... Claude Leroy... [Paul] Bourlee (attorney in
Nivelles)... The little girls disappeared when they were about
15-16 years. For the orgies [were used]: little girls of 12-13
years. In the summer of '88, one of the oldest [Eva] (15-16
years) was taken into the sadomasochist room - she was never
seen again. The little girls drank alcohol and came out of these
parties [completely] numb." PV 117.536, November 26, 1996:
"In September '84, X2 is transferred following the rumors
concerning her links to Karel. She is transferred to Nivelles
where she meets Olivier Castiaux and becomes his mistress while
pursuing her relation with Karel. Castiaux possesses a
collection of vehicles of which a Jaguar. Castiaux caresses her
without penetration... Entourage of Castiaux = François Harcq...
Bayens (JI NIVELLES).. Amory de la Chevallerie (Magistrat à
Nivelles)... Yves de Presle de la Nieppe (Magistrat à Nivelles)...
Docteur Lombard... Paul Bourlee et son épouse... Carine
Hanquinet (Magistrat de Nivelles)." PV 117.536, November
26, 1996: "About August-September '85 an evening at the
notary Nassaux in Waterloo = party with 5 underage girls.
Present: Castiaux and X2 - Nassaux and his wife Veronique Dehoux
[a judge] - Bourlee - Francois Harcq - Bayens and others... In
late November '85 Castiaux brings X2 to a second residence of
Bourlee in Faulx Les Tombes. The wife of Bourlee and Carine
Hanquinet were present but left. After their departure the ones
arrived that were present at Nassaux, as well as the Baron de
Bonvoisin - Bayens and Harcq were not there. They arrived with
little girls of less than 15 years. The party takes place at the
first floor, but X2 remains below. The girls are less relaxed
than in Eindhoven and follow as sheep. X2 heard screams of pain
coming from the first floor. After one hour Castiaux descends
and leaves with X2." PV 117.536, November 26, 1996: "In
mid-'86 Castiaux invites X2 to an important evening in Woluwe. A
big villa with swimming pool close to the shopping center. He [Castiaux]
is one of the promoters and she must help him. Castiaux is a
member of the Rotary Club. Present: de Bonvoisin - Georges Desir
- two brothers of de Merode - de Meeus (Walibi [amusement park])
- the Prince and Princess of Chimay - le Comte Emmanuel de
Lichtervelde - Carteuvels - the Count d’Urssel. X2 leaves the
location about 02-03.00 AM." X2 also attended 5 or 6
meetings at Chimay Castle where hunts on young children were
organized. She saw the Lippens brothers there, but didn't see
the hunts herself, and only heard the agonizing screams of young
children in the forest. From statements made by those around her
she concluded that the children were being hunted. PV 151.044,
March 27, 1997: "The events in Chimay. She went 5-6 times.
In an immense wood... She was forced to go. She was never a
[visual] witness of whatever was done. Participated: the most
violent of the group in Knokke, among them the Lippens brothers.
In Chimay she heard shouting and gunfire... It was around the
Castle of Chimay. The wood is surrounded by a wall. Those were
screams of children of maybe 10 years. She thinks there were 4-5
children. The screams stop all of a sudden... The participants
had all been in Knokke and in Eindhoven. She never saw the
children. The screams were horrible and indescribable. Levy was
very nervous as if he would not want to be there... It happens
one afternoon... first half '88... On departure the screams were
not strong, rather screams of pains than the much stronger
screams during some seconds and stop clean." In May 1997
she withdrew her support for the investigation, seeing saw how
De Baets and her own interviewers were being stonewalled from
every angle. 1999, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulte and
Douglas De Coninck, 'De X-dossiers', p. 321: "When I saw in
how much trouble he got [sergeant Michel Clippe, who had
convinced her to testify] and how my own dossier evolved, I
decided to quit. In any case, even back then [in May 1997] you
could already see how the people surrounding De Baets
collectively were being stonewalled. They didn't stand a
chance." She claimed that the Gang of Nijvel investigation
had sabotaged by the same group. Michel Clippe, the friend and
superior officer who had convinced her testify, was removed from
the Dutroux investigation. Some newspapers later suggested that
X2 was Clippe's mistress and that he headed her interviews. X2
strongly denied that, and especially the second accusation is
easily dismissed. |
X3 |
X3 was a girl in the abuse network from 1950 to 1962. She
was an acquaintance of Marie-Noëlle Bouzet, the mother of the
murdered Elizabeth Brichet. Anonymously, X3 had already written
about her experiences with child abuse and she was well
respected for her work with other child abuse victims. After
contacting the authorities, she was invited to testify in
November 1996. She had 4 long talks about her history of child
abuse, but only on December 10, during the 5th interview, her
interviewers wrote down the first report. Even after this 5th
interview her interviewers were under orders to write down as
little as possible, because she mentioned members of the royal
family. It is an unwritten rule in Belgium to terminate any
investigation in which the royal family becomes a suspect
(officially, the king is immune anyway). The summary of her
interview of May 26, 1997 (PV 151.688) ends with the peculiar
sentence: "Identical interview as 151.829, but she doesn't
mention royal personalities." In PV 151.829, dated June 2,
1997 (at least, the summary), she mentioned Prince Charles of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, King Baudouin and "King Albert" (whether she
meant Albert I or Albert II is not known). X3 was severely
abused at home from age 3 to age 12, together with her sister.
Her father and his friends would play cards, and whoever won
that evening could pick one of his daughters and do with her
whatever he pleased. The doctor, one of her abusers, would
stitch her up if necessary, for example when one of the
participants had decided to cut X3's stomach open. When she was
7 or 8 years old one of the participants partially removed her
clitoris. After the age of 12 she was introduced to the network.
She was placed in a bar and forced to became a prostitute. She
also had to find and initiate other children into the network.
At this point, she was regularly drugged and taken to parties in
different villas, where usually a number of influential people
had gathered. At one of these parties she had witnessed how the
genitals of a young boy were cut off, how he was killed and
ritually buried. Her father or Charly De Pauw (a buddy of Paul
Vanden Boeynants) usually brought her. Charly would come by in a
pink American car with a white roof. PV 151.829, June 2, 1997:
"The car stopped on a parterre before the house. [It] was
surrounded by a park. Two supervisors were present: Ralf and
Walter. The children were taken to a tower made of natural stone
and with a wooden door... an underground [corridor] left from
the turret toward the cellars... without light... going
downward. In the cellars there were cells where the children
were locked up, awaiting their turn. There were also some cells
for the dogs (dobermans). The passageway gave way to a room of
spectacle. In the tower: dead children's bodies in various
stages of decomposition (sometimes dismembered and/or missing
body parts) and carcasses of dogs. Spectators: always the same
but difficult to identify - about fifty. She recognized the
regent Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert, and two others
that she calls Charly [De Pauw] and Polo [Paul Vanden Boeynants].
She thinks to have recognized Willy Claes and doctor Vanden
Eynde. The dogs listen to Ralf and Walter. The addicted dogs are
excited. Spectacles = orgies, putting to death children and
dogs. The spectacle room has a strong odor of excrements of
dogs. Dogs can roam free in the garden... Gilles (12 years
old??) was castrated by Polo. The other children have to drink
the blood... Girls are slashed with razor blades. The lips of
the vagina of X3 have partially been cut and were given to eat
to the dogs... A girl's [large] vulva was cut into slices and
fed to the dogs..." More in PV 151.829, June 2, 1997:
"A hunt is prepared by Charly and Polo. Present:
Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb. This is at another place. Big white
house with [at least one additional floor] and stables. The park
has a round basin and a fountain coming out of a statue. The
children were released naked and when caught, they were raped.
The hunt ended with tortures in the spectacle room... Virginity
of a girl of 7-9 years taken by a dog. A product that excited
[the dog] was placed on the girl's vagina. The other children
had to lick the blood... A baby devoured by the dogs...
Childbirth by a teenager through a caesarean section. Baby
pulled out of the stomach and given to the dogs by Polo [Paul
Vanden Boeynants]. She saw the dismembered mother again in the
exposition of the dead... She has to eat the human flesh cut
from the bodies. She has to eat pieces of children (fingers)
served in gelatin. Good taste - slightly sugary. It provoked an
enormous sensation of hunger and thirst. Drinking blood relieved
the sensation of thirst... She speaks of another murder
that she committed on a girl of 3-5 years under the threat that
it would be her brother who would be killed. She opened up the
girl from the vagina to the breastbone with a knife. She gave
the internal organs to the dog. Someone cut off the head. The
child was devoured by the dogs... Murder of a young teenage
woman who was opened up by Vanden Eynde... The baby shouted in
the mother's stomach. She resewed the stomach with the baby
inside... She also has to eat from the excrements of dogs... She
has to cut off the vulva of a female dog named Rita." More
in PV 151.829, June 2, 1997: "Luxurious house with a
surrounding wall and gate... non illuminated twisting path.
There were some stables. Parterre with flowers. Hall of entry =
cream-colored and blue tiles - red carpeting. Walls made of
marble with a teenage picture of [later king] Baudouin on it.
She spent a whole night with Baudouin - fellatio and sodomy.
Presence of maid... In this house there were many servants...
She remembers one evening when she had been smeared with cream
before being brought to the table on a tray. She had been licked
off and raped... At the end of another evening a child... had
been castrated. The other children that were present buried the
boy in a flowerbed. She remembers a child who had been
decapitated, then cut and fried before being eaten. She
remembers children who hung on hooks in the kitchen. A certain
Solange [a female name] has been enucleated [what exactly?] with
a spoon by her and an old lady." In contrast to X1, X2 and
Nathalie W., X3 was treated with respect and that seems to have
been the reason that she somehow kept her trust in the
Neufchateau cell. However, a lot of what she said was never
written down and there has never been the slightest
investigation into the claims she made. |
X4 |
Born in 1965 (apparently the same year as Nathalie W.). Came
into contact with Neufchateau on November 20, 1996 after a
friend advised her to testify about her own history of sexual
abuse. Told the investigators how she was loaned out by her
mother to a pimp named Jacques V. at a very young age. Jacques
produced SM movies with children. 1999, Annemie Bulte, Douglas
De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, 'The X-Dossiers', p.
327: "Hearing after hearing the boundaries are pushed
further. Extreme torture, rape scenes, murders of babies under
the eye of men in black hoods. Pretty soon in the investigation
the names of politicians O. [almost certainly a member of the
Lippens family] and E. [should be Paul Vanden Boeynants] are
named as 'regular customers'. Those have been pointed out by X1
and X3 in the mean time as child killers. X4 also mentions the
pivotal prince [Alexandre de Merode] in the account of Nathalie
W. In the month of January she also points out a hotel in Knokke
that was also mentioned by X1... Apparently without really
knowing about who she is talking, X4 also describes a high
government official whose name once appeared in the Pinon file
[can only be Guy Mathot, Vanden Boeynants or Gen. Fernand
Beaurir of the Gendarmerie]." X4 recognized two
childhood friends of X1 and said that these two had featured in
the SM movies. X4 named Noël V. as a close associate of Jacques
V. When the inspectors investigated this person it turned out
that he was a convicted pedophile while one of his identified
victims was the sister of X4. She talked about how members of
high society regularly allow themselves to be taken up in
different religious cults and sects. In one of her later
testimonies X4 mentioned that members of Opus Dei had been among
her most sadistic clients. When she was 16 years old she ran
away from home and ended up in a center for runaway children.
Here it was established that she had suffered heavy
psychological trauma (she had to look up these documents
herself). One of the pictures found at Jean-Paul Raemaekers
might have shown a very young X4, although follow-up "research"
was inconclusive. Like X1, she told the investigators what she
had known about Raemaekers, but noticed she wasn't taken
serious. The most obnoxious, arrogant and manipulative of X1's
later interrogators, Eddy Verhaeghen, was set loose on X4 and a
friend of her, Corry, in November 1997. They had learned that
Corry knew Tania, the friend of X1 who initially called Bourlet
and Connerotte, the simple reason being that they both worked in
the same child abuse support circuit. However, Eddy and a
colleague tried to spin this friendship as proof that X1 and X4
were having a conspiracy of their own against the state. They
tried to prove that X4 and X1 also knew each other and that
their "memories" had been made up at the instigation of their
"support group". Unfortunately, X1 and X4 didn't know each other
at all and the "support group" had never organized any group
discussions for victims. All they did was help individuals find
proper professional help. What is true, however, is that X4's
parents turned out to live next to a villa where X1 claimed a
friend had been abused to such an extend that she died. This
fact was never given any attention. |
Nathalie
Waeterschoot |
X1 identified Nathalie W. (PV 150.521) as
someone present at the sexclub Les Atrebates in the early 1980s
while Nathalie W. correctly identified the pimp of X1 as
"Anthony" and as a friend of Nihoul (PV 150.521); X1 identified
the father of Nathalie W. (PV 150.521); X4 identified Nathalie
W. (PV 150.521: "PV 150.521: "She [Nathalie W.] is recognized by
X1 and X4... X4 states that [Nathalie] Waet. has the same age as
her except for 3 months (correct)") while Nathalie W. identified
the mother (Simone) and a sister of X4 by name (PV 150.521)
Also spelled "Waterschoot". Born on June 16, 1965. With
support from her therapist she gave her first testimony to the
police in February 1996, six months before the Dutroux affair.
The officer who interviewed her at some point stated, "I
can't write this down", which resulted in Nathalie walking
out of his office without signing anything. In July 1996, after
two police officers, Joël Gerard and Theo Vandyck, incidentally
met with Nathalie's therapist, she was interviewed again.
Nathalie began telling how she was first raped by her father,
Andre (born March 7, 1937), when she was six. Her father, just
as many others who raped her, was a member of the Rotary Club
(of Waterloo in his case; when the investigators later
approached the Rotary of Waterloo, its president refused to give
them a membership list). Nathalie's father began sending her to
family and friends of his, who regularly organized child abuse
parties at their villas in the region of Waterloo. She told the
interviewers that when she was 10 years old her father delivered
her to Vincent, aka Prince Alexandre de Merode, in Spain.
Vincent, who drove in a Jaguar (inspectors later identified the
car as a Jaguar XJ6, model 1968. (PV 150.249)), then took her to
parties at castles in central Belgium. She became pregnant three
times and in all cases the baby was aborted. In early September
1996, Nathalie first spoke about the private sex club Les
Atrebates in Etterbeek, which she said was a regular meeting
place of her abusers. She'd seen a number of other girls there.
One of the individuals involved she called "Mich", the name X1
reserved for Michel Nihoul (and also placed at Les Atrebates and
the Dolo). 1999, 'the X-Dossiers', p. 310: "It was Joël who
called me with the question if 'Mich' was Nihoul. Yes, I said. I
had immediately recognized him on tv. I didn't see him as the
most important person. He was there in the period of the
Atrebatenstraat [Les Atrebates], when I was 15 or 16. That was
all." Said that Nihoul raped her at least 3 times in the
early 1980s. Didn't recognize X1 from pictures, but did
recognize X1's mother and X1's pimp as "Anthony" (which is
correct). She claimed Anthony was a friend of Nihoul, which has
also been reported by X1. X1 and X4 recognized Nathalie W. as a
victim of the network. X1 recognized the father of Nathalie.
Nathalie W. identified the mother (Simone) and a sister of X4 by
name (PV 150.521). Pointed out The Dolo and a number of villas
and other locations where she said she had been abused. Reported
having seen Paul Vanden Boeynants at the Dolo with some women.
In the following weeks Nathalie began to complain about how she
was threatened by anonymous phone calls and said that the
network was following every step of the investigation. In
mid-October 1996, Nathalie claimed to have been beaten up by a
person she recognized as Jean-Louis Delamotte (picked from
photos shown to her), a business associate of Michel Nihoul.
Soon thereafter the investigators noticed a "V" that had been
carved in her arm. According to her, it was a present from
Vincent, who had stopped by to advise her to pull out of the
investigation. Soon thereafter, Nathalie claimed that a green
car tried to force her from the road. For a brief moment, this
report is linked to a complaint of prosecutor Anne Thilly, who
claimed to have been followed by a green car in October 1996. In
the mean time, Marie France Botte (a rather peculiar woman), for
a while Nathalie's chief financial supporter, was beaten up in
front of her house by a person who then tried to strangle her. A
note from January 18, 1997 of Theo Vandyck reads: "[Delamotte]
strongly resembles the facial composite of the aggressor of
Marie-France Botte... Delamotte knew Nihoul... Delamotte was in
contact with a person named Antoine [almost certainly the pimp
of X1], a friend of Nihoul." The details Nathalie gave
about the network turned out to be compatible with information
the police already had. Theo Vandyck, her early interviewer and
the only person she really trusted, said: "You needed to
have patience with her, but when you see all that she could tell
us in the early stage of the investigation, then you know: she
knows the milieu that we were so interested at the time through
and through." As with X1, Nathalie quite often either went
hysterical or fell completely silent. In fact, she turned out to
be even less ready to be interviewed (and certainly not
interrogated) than X1. From January 16 to January 30, 1997,
Nathalie was hypnotized three times in an effort to retrieve
more detailed memories (and probably to make it through them
without having to be restrained again). In the third session she
remembered an "old lady with a walking stick" who was a close
associate of her prince. She remembered the name of this lady as
"Bérénice d'Aurschot". She described how she was 14 years old
(1979) when she was first brought to "Maison de d'Aurschot". A
description of the place included: "green shutters, gravel,
white, no etage, near to a chateau". A number of visits were in
December and January, others in July and September. At least one
of the meetings took place during full moon. In response to the
question to write down what comes back to her when she moves
around the castle (in her mind), she made the notes (PV 150.035,
January 30, 1997): ""Murder-around... In a circle around
fire - have some candles - everybody is standing except the baby
and the sheep - the baby cries - he cannot cry - he cannot
breathe because he is impure - and it is a boy." She describes
the murder of the baby and how his blood is mixed with that of
the slaughtered sheep - Then they burn the baby and the sheep,
and everybody is having sex with each other - the monster has
left. They tear out the heart of the baby. She describes some
signs that she noticed (cross - stars)." Prince Alexandre
de Merode and at least a dozen others were present, including
her father. The name she mentioned appears to be the d'Arschot
Schoonhoven family (counts), although a "Berenice" is hard to
find (says nothing at this points). This family has historically
been closely associated with families like De Croy, Chimay, De
Ligne, and a number of others, including Windisch-Gratz and the
Belgian royals. Interestingly, anno 2006, Count Guillaume
d'Arschot Schoonhoven is a director of Compagnie du Zoute in
Knokke, together with Counts Maurice, Leopold, and Paul Lippens
and Nadine Lippens. This family is one of the most notorious
among children who are part of the abuse network. Apparently,
when Nathalie was talking about "Maison de d'Aurschot" she meant
Chateau d'Ohain, just south-east of Brussels
(PV 150.674: "Places and facts...
Chateau de Lasnes. 1979-94." PV 150.729: "Chateau de
Lasnes = chateau de Ohain". Talks about a ceremony that took
place there in which a child was killed).
Interestingly, within several miles of Chateau d'Ohain one can
also find Chateau de la Hulpe on Domaine Solvay and Domaine
d'Argenteuil of the late King Leopold III and Princess Liliane
de Rethy, which all appear in the Dutroux file. Additionally,
the (former?) gamekeeper and woodsman of Chateau Genval (nearby
very luxurious Hotel) and/or La Hulpe was named a violent
paedophile in 1994. At some point Nathalie also mentioned Castle
Dongelberg as a place of abuse (owned by Opus Dei). X2 also
claimed that children had been abused at Dongelberg, while in
other reports the castle is mentioned as a place where
conspirators had organized several meetings in the 1970s and
1980s when they attempted to overthrow the Belgian state. Theo
Vandyck, the only inspector Nathalie completely trusted,
suffered a stroke one or two days after Nathalie's third
hypnotic regression (about the satanic ritual). As a result
Vandyck and Gerard were replaced by Philippe Pourbaix and
Baudouin Dernicourt, two "re-readers" who were working with
Commandant Duterme to remove De Baets from the X1 interviews and
to subsequently "discredit" X1. These new
interviewers/interrogators made it absolutely clear that they
didn't believe a word of what Nathalie was saying. Their extreme
scepticism, combined with the way they interrogated (instead of
interviewing and trying to confirm), completely sent Nathalie
off the deep end. On at least two occasions she invented events
and went through some personal suffering to make it appear real
(although in the first case it seems quite obvious that she was
trying to make a statement). At some point, she also confused
the names of her two most important abusers, besides her father
(although that's almost certainly a result of the oppressive and
abusive interrogation techniques used by the new interrogators,
not the least because the de Merode family has also been named
by other victims). On March 17, 1997 she decided to quit. The
biggest problem all along with Nathalie was that she really was
a mythomaniac to some extent (almost certainly a result of her
extreme abuse), especially when she wasn't taken serious. To her
first interviewers she would sometimes state that what she told
them a minute ago was not accurate. However, the really serious
inventing seems to have only begun after the new interviewers
arrived on the scene. Marc Reisinger, the psychologist who later
examined X1 and came to support her 100%, said that Nathalie's
testimony could not be trusted, because she was suffering from
pathomimie, a tendency to inflict physical harm to one's own
body in order to play a victim. This did not mean she was not a
victim of very severe child abuse, which she obviously was, but
a detailed testimony to be used in court could not be considered
reliable. When Nathalie's family was contacted, her mother said
that Nathalie was a dangerous person who tried to "destroy"
people she didn't like. According to her mother, grandmother,
brothers and ex-boyfriend, Nathalie's accusations against her
father were "unthinkable" and a "disgrace" to her family (not
that strange considering the abuse was taking place within the
family). The father and his present wife, who resided in Spain,
were not questioned. Supposedly, his present wife had said to
Nathalie that her father "had started again". The
Spanish police reported to their Belgian counterpart that
Nathalie's father "appears to be protected". Cecile Z.,
a police officer who lived together with Nathalie W., wrote:
"Pourbaix just kept repeating that everything Nathalie said had
been investigated and that nothing checked out... He suggested
to me that I go through the stuff of Nathalie and do my own
investigation that way... [I know hard evidence is necessary],
but claiming, like Pourbaix did, that Nathalie is fantasist, a
psychopath, a mythomaniac and the biggest manipulator in the
world, that is way out of line. Believe me, these are not
interpretations, these are words I literally heard."
Ludmilla, a psychologist at Botte's foundation, concurred:
"I think this was a set up and that we were dealing with
disinformation, which not only was meant to destabilize the
victim, but also to discredit her in her own environment."
In March, after Nathalie had ceased cooperation with the new
interviewers, Pourbaix also contacted the neighbor of Nathalie
and Cecile, warning her that she shouldn't leave her children
around Nathalie. The neighbor recorded one of the phone calls
with Pourbaix and gave it to Nathalie, who in turn confronted
Pourbaix with it. The result was that Nathalie's house was
searched, the tape confiscated and the neighbor threatened with
possible legal steps for having violated secrecy agreements. In
early April 1997, Duterme began to worry about Nathalie telling
everything she knew to family, friends and reporters. Within two
weeks, however, the media began a full scale attack on Nathalie
instead. Theo Vandyck, the early interviewer who she had
trusted, had recovered enough from his stroke to find out what
was happening at Neufchateau. It turned out that Pourbaix and
his colleagues had contacted the media in an effort to discredit
Nathalie. When Vandyck pointed out to Pourbaix that he risked
being prosecuted for violating official secrets, he was told
that Duterme and Col. Brabant of the BOB had given their full
support for the media campaign. Vandyck's inquiries were
answered with a brief letter from Langlois telling him to leave
the Nathalie W. case alone. According to Vandyck, Pourbaix
called Nathalie a "whore" who was manipulating the whole Dutroux
investigation. Pourbaix for some reason had become so upset with
Nathalie that he began to use her picture at the shooting range
for target practice. Nathalie's dossier was closed on April 25,
1997. She finally found job in mid-1998, but within days the
gendarmerie stopped by informing her that she needed to be
interrogated for something pertaining to the Dutroux-case. In
the past she had always been contacted personally in a very
discreet manner, either by mail, by phone or a pager she always
carried with her. This unnecessary move on part of the
gendarmerie resulted in the loss of her job. Marie-France Botte,
the person who initially supported Nathalie, had to close the
doors of her foundation around this same time. In late 1998,
Botte attempted to commit suicide, which failed. |
VM1 |
As a kid ended up in a children's home in Mont-Saint-Guibert.
From age 9 to 13 he was picked up from this home by a local
juvenile judge who brought him to abuse parties in villas around
Brussels. Told he had witnessed children being murdered and how
unwilling newly-initiated often ended up in car accidents. At
some point began to work as a prostitute for Philippe Cryns in
and around the Mirano in Brussels. Cryns had co-founded Parc
Savoy in 1985 with individuals as Charly De Pauw and Ado Blaton.
Cryns was a member of Cercle des Nations, together with Paul
Vanden Boeynants, Baron de Bonvoisin and Pinay Circle founder
Jean Violet. In April 1984, a close family member of a prominent
judge died in the Mirano from an overdose of drugs, resulting in
an investigation which not only uncovered evidence of drug
dealing, but also of a clandestine pedophile ring headed by
Cryns. The prosecution and the judge decided to focus only on
evidence dealing with drug dealing for which Cryns was sentenced
to three years in jail in 1986. His partner Alexis Alewaeters
received 5 years. Both Alewaeters, a close associate of Nihoul
and Bouty, and Cryns were named as the main organizers of
paedophile parties at Le Mirano and personal villas. Witness
VM1, a child prostitute employed by Cryns, explained on February
16-17, 1997: "I had to pick up children and get them drunk
or give them drugs, then take 'em to the private area [of the
Mirano], where they were abused." About tapes that had been
confiscated on which allegedly Cryns' clients could be seen
having sex with the children, judge Claire De Gryse said she
didn't watch them, "because everyone assured me that nothing
was on there that would even shock a capuchin." VM1 ended
up becoming a gangster, but in February 1997 he did voluntarily
testify in secret about his early days as a child prostitute.
Within two days, VM1 was stopped on the streets by two men he
didn't know, who told him that he needed to hand over certain
photos he had in his possession. Given 48 hours, he would be
dead before the week was over if he didn't cooperate.
Interestingly, VM1 had never mentioned to his interviewers that
he had any pictures or video in his possession. VM1 contacted
the police who decided to put a tap on the phone number VM1 had
been given, and began monitoring the house the telephone number
belonged to. Under observation, VM1 called the individual that
had entered the house and told him he had the package. In
response, this person in the house held a bizarre 5-minute
monologue how he never heard of VM1, nor the package he wanted
to deliver. Interestingly, when the number was rechecked several
days later it did not exist anymore. VM1 ceased to testify and
told his very supportive handler, gendarme officer Marc
Toussaint, that the pictures or video had been hidden in a safe
place. At the same, Toussaint was pressured by his superiors to
also let this case go. |
Additional
Neufchateau victim-witnesses talking about satanism, in addition to
Chantal S., X4 and Nathalie
W.
Note: Other witnesses mentioned similar
tortures, including ritual murder, but without the religious aspect.
These are statements of individuals who appeared in official reports of
Neufchateau. Some might be serious while others could just as well be
disinformation, like the Abrasax cult was. They are ordered by date of
first testimony.
Anonymous |
PV 100.130, December 2, 1996: "Sectarian or satanic
activities at the Valmont castle in Merbes-Le-Chateau. Owner of
the chateau = Pierre Ferbus (07/01/42). Homosexual - banker BBL.
Di Rupo and Graffe would have been seen at these parties. A
victim described a place during a television debate - the
description looked like the Valmont castle. Residents of the
chateau: Christian Isaert (10/03/50) - gardener; Dominique
Beroudiaux (30/04/54); David Bosquion (02/10/75). Three
entrances to the castle but two have been blocked. A report of
the Police of Lobbes [nearby town, to the north] get the same
information concerning Jean-Pierre Graffe. In the property there
supposedly is a cross of 5 meters across. It would be about
satanism. A rapport of the BSR [Special Investigations Unit of
the Gendarmerie] in Thuin [another nearby town] contains
approaching information." |
T4 |
Brief summary of T4 testimony in PV 118.220, December 4,
1996: "In 1987, he met a psychotherapist (JOHANA) and a
paramedical (EVA). He attended a Black Mass in the suburbs of
Gent in May 1987. A Satanic Mass. There was animal sacrifice
through evisceration... The blood of the animals was drunk by
the participants. JOHANA and EVA were present. He reports that
children are sacrificed in the USA. In Holland, the Satanic
movement has ties to the child abuse network. T4 was
not able to attend the whole ceremony. Description of the villa.
Luxurious vehicles... T4 brought there in a big black Mercedes
with dark leather seats, a minibar and telephone - Dutch license
plate (eyes were covered). The Church of Satan was directed at
the time by Anton LaVey. They spoke about picking up a certain
Armand in Mechelen. A drive of twenty minutes after leaving the
freeway Brussels-Gent. JOHANA and EVA signaled that there were
members of parliament and other personalities...
Incantation in an unknown language. Priests and priestesses are
naked under their robes. Everybody with robes and masks. Giving
of money and requests for witchcraft. The suffering of the
sacrificed animals is the way to obtain power and influence.
After the ceremony JOHANA and EVA had to go to the Belgian
coast." |
Anonymous |
December 13, 1996, letter that was sent in: "Letter of
van Aller. Sect - Orgies - Pink Ballets in Holland. Sent to the
Justice Department in Holland concerning a sect in that country.
A group of 300 people formed a sect that exists in Holland. They
organize orgies with minors (3 years and up). Members = lawyers
- jurists - judges - police officers. Meetings in rural estates
- hotels - at one the members. Example: villa Westflier in
Markelo, beach of Noordwijk. Meetings are held the first
Saturday after the full moon as well as on dates of Christian
feasts or on anniversaries. Groups of 12 people with children.
Rapes and tortures of the children. Large meetings = 50 adults
and 50 children - drugs, booze, orgies, rapes. Registration on
video of abuse of kids. The children of the group members
participate in the feasts. It involves the creation of multiple
personalities in the children. Explanation of MPS. At Christmas,
there's a symbolic sacrifice of a 1 year old child that
undergoes a certain amount of torture, but who is replaced by a
doll at the time of the real torture. Simulated funeral of a 15
year old child as punishment. One provokes the MPS for example
while making the small children believe that one inserts a cat
in them which grows and becomes a panther, and that supervises
them if they want to speak out or leave the clan. These Multiple
Personality Disorders are maintained by psychotherapists. The
induced MPS permits a continuous control, even of adults, while
creating some degree of balance... Member of the sect:
Jacqueline Balm. Sect infiltrated by Rowin Verkijk. Witness who
brings some material evidence: Rumke. The Dutch authorities
don't believe the revelations of Balm and don't act. The
declarations and/or letters disappeared. Balm disappeared on
orders of the clan." |
Jacques Thoma |
January 8, 1997, info from Sara de Wachter and Jacques Thoma
during an initial conversation, BR.30.51.000250/97: "Jacques
Thoma was at a restaurant with Sara de Wachter (01/10/55) when
he broke down in tears. He participated in 1985-86 in several
satanic sessions close to Charleroi. At the event the blood of a
12 year old girl was offered to an audience. He did not
participate in the murder. Thoma doesn't intend to speak
anymore, because he is afraid. He encountered the grand master,
Francois-Joseph, who told him that he was a police informant and
that he had to be careful. Thoma has been pulled in by members
of the PSC, namely Michel Dewolf and lawyer Philippe Sala...
Francois-Joseph is a notary implicated in the trafficking of
girls for prostitution from the East. After contact through the
telephone Thoma confirms, but refuses to sign a declaration."
January 8, 1997, BOB note 264: "Thoma accepts a meeting in
the week of 13-19 January 1997, but on neutral ground and
without having to sign his interview." January 16, 1997,
BOB note 466: "He is very afraid. He was a treasurer of the
youth section of the PSC. He often met with Michel Dewolf -
Philippe Sala and Jean-Paul Dumont. They tried to direct Thoma
toward Opus Dei what they considered Nec Plus Ultra [Latin for
"nothing further beyond"]. Under the pretext of initiation tests
for Opus Dei he was brought to a Black Mass with sexual acts. He
mentions the presence of girls from a country in the East (13-14
years). In 1986, after a wine and dine political reunion he went
with Sala and Dewolf to a meeting that they announced would be
spicy. He was drugged before being taken into a room with masked
people who had dressed in black robes. The participants drank
blood. He was placed in the presence of a naked little girl
laying down on an altar - she had died (12 years). He wanted to
leave but was drugged again. He woke up the following day in his
car. He left the party [PSC] and made a declaration to the BSR
[Special Investigations Unit of the Gendarmerie] in Charleroi.
Money destined for the PSC was whitewashed in German casinos by
Dumont. Thoma sent to the gendarmerie in Uccle to identify
photos of places where trafficking of children from the East
takes place (Italian restaurant av. Charlequint). He gave the
identity of a Rumanian." |
Chateau des
Amerois claims |
Note of caution: with such notorious manipulative debunkers
as Verhaeghen and Alvarez involved, together with evangelical
conspiracy researchers as Fritz Springmeier and the Dutch Robin
de Ruiter, this story has been rendered pretty much completely
useless.
PV 100.403, January 14, 1997 (Eddy Verhaeghen): "Letter of a
retired Gendarme officer (Mignon). In early April 1996, he
sheltered a Mexican priest. The priest's Dutch friend came to
see him. The Dutchman mentioned the castle of Amerois as a place
where satanic and pedophilic evenings take place during which
children are sacrificed. This information was given to him by an
American from NATO who went back to the USA. This American
participated in one of these evenings and had been disgusted by
it. The priest left to Mexico and had telephone contact with the
families Lejeune-Russo. Priest = Dizan Vasquez. Dutchman = Robin
de Ruiter. Commandant Schmidt was informed on April 23-24, 1996.
Maybe a connection with the hunting parties described by X1 [not
to mention the other X witnesses].""
PV 150.048, February 12, 1997 (Baudouin Dernicourt):
"Interview of Rene Mignon (20/02/38). He wrote to the Capt.
Baulard to inform him of sacrifices of children in Chateau des
Amerois. His wife and him knew a Spanish missionary working in
Uganda. They paid a visit to him in Uganda where they met a
Mexican priest. In April 1996, this Mexican priest has been
sheltered some days at his place. The priest's Dutch friend came
to see him [there]. This Dutchman spoke of Chateau des Amerois
close to Bouillon that belongs to the Solvay family. The
Dutchman said to know a man who held a post in NATO. This [NATO]
man explained to the Dutchman to have been invited to an evening
in Chateau des Amerois during which children were sacrificed. At
the time, he gave the facts to Commandant Schmit. The facts
would date 1994-1995. Three Americans would have participated in
this kind of feasts, but probably not together. Fritz
Springmeier would have inquired into these facts and written a
book. In this book the Chateau des Amerois is termed 'Mothers of
Darkness castle in Belgium'. The manager of the castle is
Devogelaer (061/46.71.36). It is impossible to see the castle
from the VP [gate?] - it is very well guarded (dogs). The
Dutchman is willing to testify anonymously. The Dutchman
confirmed the facts by telephone, but doesn't want to make
himself known."
PV 150.311, February 19, 1997 (Eddy Verhaeghen):
"Information: Chateau Amerois. Dutchman = R. de Ruiter from
Almere. He writes to say that he doesn't know anything besides
that his info comes from Springmeier. The info of this person
would come from elder Satanists. He mentions "the top 13
Illuminati bloodlines" that make the satanic families the most
powerful on earth and "the Illuminati formula uses to create an
undetectable mind controlled slave [sic]" that goes about the
programming and deprogramming of the victims. Fritz Springmeier
of Oregon City (USA)."
PV 150.931, April 30, 1997 (Cerefino Alvarez): "Information
Chateau d'Amerois. Telephone contact with Father Vasquez
(Mexico), the "Dutchman." Reception of the video cassette of
Springmeier, confirmation of seeing this video, Springmeier
mentions the Chateau d'Amerois as being a place where sacrifices
of children would be carried out in accordance with satanic
rituals." |
Catharina |
PV 150.006, February 20, 1997: "Contact with Catharina.
Contact with Meert on 17 and 31/01/97. Person of 60 years old,
whose name is Groen (according to her). Her father is a very
rich business man who owns a villa in Lugano. All her life
Catharina has been abused by her father and she has knowledge
about satanic feasts. She accommodates Ruth Chapman, who is a
former victim-author of a satanic sect. She suspects her to be
again a member of the sect. Chapman handed her documents and
disks that would be of great value. Catharina gave them to the
gendarmerie. Chapman would also be part of a pedophile network
and her mission would be to kidnap children in Belgium to be
brought to Holland for pedophile movies. Catharina says to have
undergone several abortions. From the age of 9 it is common to
give hormones to the children to speed up the evolution of the
body... [something about abuse at the Italian consulate]... In
Dordrecht in the house In de Spijkermandt [apparently De
Spijkermand, a long time weapons store, located in Rotterdam,
close to the Van Helmontstraat] the attic is organized for a
Nazi sect. Some corpses disappear via a butcher shop in
Rotterdam in the Van Hellemondstraat [Van Helmontstraat, located
without a doubt in the most degenerate neighborhood in
Rotterdam]. The main seat of the sect is in Zurich in Hotel du
Lac. Members = Notaries van Maastricht, Glavimans and superior
officers of the army. Some victims come from a country in the
east (Poland). She has been raped at the airport of Iepenburg [Ypenburg,
a small airport in The Hague, which was closed in 1992. It was
only used incidentally, sometimes by the Dutch royal family] and
in Geneva in a former house of United Nations, as well as in
Belgium. Verviers: Old monastery = retirement home and in a
hotel that looks over the station. Liege [Luik]: close to a
passage for police vehicles, near the cathedral. Jumet:
restaurant near a bunker. When she was 25 years old she was
witness to a snuff movie on the lake of Lugano." |
Pascal Willems |
PV 151.046, March 23, 1997: "Reception on March 19, 1997
of a rapport from Georis (BCR [Central bureau of information of
the Gendarmerie]), written after a contact with Patricia
Defense. Opening of note BR.36.66.150807/97. Defense pointed
Georis to Gérald Brassine (psycho-therapist). Brassine reports
other facts. Brassine was in contact with Pascal Willems, also a
psycho-therapist, since 1992. Willems looked after two children
(8-10 years) who were victims of child molesters and Satanists
in the region of Verviers, in a castle. This went on until the
children were put to death. The children came from a children's
home with a complicit director. The children were placed by
their parents. Mr. Denayer of the judicial police in Namur was
informed by Brassine. Following that, Willems was
threatened by a superior of Mr. Denayer. Willems hid the
relevant documents in a safe place at this office. The mother of
the children would have contacted the 0800 [toll-free support]
line anonymously. Brassine informed Willems of his contacts with
the gendarmerie [another police branch which works with the
judicial police] and asked him to make contact [likely with the
gendarmerie] => again on April 29. Pascal Willems = 08/07/68.
The children would have participated in a combined feast and
orgy organized by Melchior Wathelet [PSC; protege Paul Vanden
Boeynants] in a castle located in the region of Verviers. The
castle belongs to a private association. Willems would be in the
possession of an invitation. The responsible person at the
judicial police of Verviers would have been in the know of the
facts and would have suppressed the affair, as well as the
gendarmerie. The director of the children's home would have been
removed. Willems spoke of the affair to the adviser of the SAJ
[Les Services de l'Aide à la Jeunesse, or youth support] of
Verviers at the time who told him to keep quiet. He has been
intimidated or has been threatened by telephone by the boss of
the judicial police in Verviers and by the advisor of the SAJ,
and by an anonymous person. Contact between Brassine and Willems
between October-November 1995 and at the end of 1996. Brassine
speaks of it to Denayer (judicial police in Namur). Following
that, Willems was threatened with "suicide" like it happened to
someone else in Namur. The 2 files of the SAJ would have
disappeared." |
Count
Yann de Meeus d'Argenteuil
Note: Not part of the X-dossiers and can hardly be categorized as a
victim. His information surfaced one year after all X-dossiers had been
closed. Committed suicide a year later.
Count Yann de Meeus d'Argenteuil |
The de Meeus family goes back to birth of Belgium. Count
Ferdinand de Meeus (1798-1861), nicknamed at the time "the
Rothschild of Belgium", became governor of Societe Generale in
1830, during the revolution in which Belgium seceded from the
Netherlands. Ferdinand received the title of Count after he had
helped King Leopold of Belgium to acquire control over Societe
Generale from the Princes of Orange.
During his interviews in prison, Raemaekers claimed he had
met Rene Bats, an Army general who liked boys and was introduced
to him by Jean-Paul Dumont (also accused of being a major child
abuser), several times at Cercle des Nations and how this person
was financially backed by Patrick de Meeus d'Argenteuil. In PV
116.160, that same day, Raemaekers claimed that in 1992 and 1993
he frequently met with Renaud Coppieters 't Wallant (b. 1935),
who was a member of the PSC, Cercle des Nations, the Lion's Club
and the Rotary. According to Raemaekers, Wallant frequently
visited Patrick de Meeus d'Argenteuil. Wallant had a foundation
in Congo (Zaire) and owned an import-export business. According
to Raemaekers, Wallant was a pedophile who liked boys and who
knew both Bats and Dumont.
Yann was the born in Congo, the former Belgian colony of
Zaire, on May 23, 1962. He was the son of Count Yves de Meeus
d'Argenteuil, allegedly once an ambassador, and Countess Colette
de Lannoy. He had three sisters and a brother, Brieuc (b. 1961).
These days Brieuc is the managing director of Flightcare Belgium
NV, founded in 2002. Yann de Meeus was arrested twice in 1988 at
the orders of Benoit Dejemeppe, the prosecutor of the king in
Brussels. After his first arrest, involving auditory
hallucinations, Yann was put on a alcohol rehabilitation program
under doctors Toussaint and Hobins, starting on May 8, 1988. The
second time he was arrested for allegedly having raped two
children, one aged 10, the other 14. Although he was not
officially charged, he was held for a while in the Foret prison
in Brussels where he himself was abused by inmates. Later in
1988, Dejemeppe succeeded in locking him up for being a
"mystical Catholic gone delirious". Apparently got out in 1990
and tried to become a commercial pilot in Kenya. Soon returned
to Brussels where his mental state rapidly plummeted. He had to
return to mental institutions. Yann tried to get a release from
his mental institution in early 1999, but this failed.
Apparently, on September 12, 1999, Yann sent a list of names of
people he accused of being involved in trafficking children and
drugs to the Belgian Comite P., the French Quai d'Orsay and the
DEA. Although his list does not overlap with names mentioned in
the X-dossiers, many people on his list are very close
associates of those that have been accused in the X-dossiers.
Yann committed suicide on November 11, 2000. http://www.demeeus.org/evenements.htm,
deaths: "2000 - Yann of Meeûs of Argenteuil (son of Yves),
reserve Lieutenant to the 2nd Regiment of the Ardennes Hunters,
died in Grez-Doiceau November 11". |
Missing girls
mentioned by X1
Name |
Date disappearance
|
Additional info
|
Veronique Dubrulle
|
-
|
Picture recognized by X1 in PV 116.257,
October 28, 1996.
Born in 1966. Lived in Gent. Daughter of businessman Jacques
Dubrulle. Jacques Dubrulle was manager of Daska Films,
administrator of Decatron NV (of the Bert family, accused of
child abuse), and chairman and patron of the International Film
Festival of Flanders. Veronique died, officially from cancer, on
September 4, 1983. Her death certificate was written and signed
by Dr. Luc De Schrijver, a neuropathist, and Dr. Luc De Waele, a
internationally esteemed neurosurgeon.
In late 1996, X1 picked Veronique from a collection of
pictures and said that this girl had been murdered. The murder
took place when she was "not yet 14, I think". In 1983,
X1 was either 13 or 14. X1 described how Veronique was regularly
brought to child abuse parties. Nihoul, Bouty, Tony, Emile
Dellaert, Michel Vander Elst and a member of the Bert family had
been present at her murder. She was tortured with a knife for a
while before finally being killed. X1 also claimed that she had
ended up in bed with De Schrijver and that De Waele was more
interested in having sex with 7-8 year old girls. Unfortunately,
De Baets and team apparently had not gotten around (yet?) to let
X1 identify these men from a collection of pictures. The dossier
was already closed in early 1997 by the District Attorney's
office in Gent. Veronique's body was never dug up, as Aime Bille
had immediately requested. Shortly after the press first
mentioned the X-dossiers in January 1997, detectives found out
that Tony, X1's former pimp, called up Jacques Dubrulle three
times. Further research by the authors of the 1999 book 'The
X-dossiers' indicated that both men were good friends. According
to X1, in contrast to Veronique's father, De Schrijver and De
Waele were not close associates of Tony, nor the group that
organized hunts on children. September 1998, Dr. Marc Reisinger
in 'Zwijgen is voor daders - De getuigenis van X1', p. 307:
"The investigators wanted to exhume the body and asked
permission for access to the medical file. The District
Attorney's office in Gent refused any cooperation. Surprisingly
enough, the parents of Veronique did not step into the limelight
with the question to start an investigation, they also did not
defend themselves against accusations in the press that shed
light on the case in January 1998." |
Carine "Clo" Dellaert
|
August 30, 1982
|
Picture recognized by X1 in PV 116.256,
October 28, 1996 (already mentioned Clo in her first testimony
on September 20). Born in 1996. Daughter of Emile
Dellaert, a person investigated in 1965 and 1977 on suspicions
of incest and sex with an under aged girl. Carine disappeared on
August 30, 1982. It took a week before her father reported her
missing, which immediately made him a suspect. A criminal
investigation against Emiel Dellaert was opened in December
1983. Carine's body was found in an abandoned cesspit in Gent on
September 24, 1985. January 8, 1998, De Morgen: "The body
was in foetal position, bound with white electric wire, the feet
and hands tied. "The body was in a very advanced state of
decomposition," says another policeman. "We had to take the
skeleton to the lab in fragments." Not much remained of the
young girl’s clothes. A gold ankle chain and a pearl necklace
had been preserved. The jewelry set off a signal in the mind of
the Ghent deputy public prosecutor Nicole De Rouck. She
immediately thought of Carine Dellaert." In January 1986,
after spending a total of two months in jail, Emiel Dellaert was
released due to a lack of evidence. In 1989, he was considered
free of all suspicions and his dossier was closed.
X1 privately wrote about "Flo" (Clo) in her manuscripts of
the early 1990s. Although Clo didn't die in these texts (nobody
did for psychological reasons), X1 did already mention that Clo
gave birth to a child in mid 1983. In the aftermath of the
Dutroux affair, X1 identified her Clo from two pictures, P4 and
P7, in which Carine Dellaert had two entirely different looks.
This was a girl to whom she had been introduced in late 1981 and
was to become her "sister". Tony figured people would be asking
less questions if he was seen with two young girls instead of
one. Clo, three years older than Regina (correctly pointed out),
became one of the few good friends of Regina, but was brutally
murdered somewhere "between June and December 1983".
After Clo disappeared on August 30, 1982, X1 still occasionally
saw Clo at abuse parties, and always with the same older person.
She was not allowed to go near her and was informed by Tony that
Clo had become an "angel" (meaning that she would die) and had
ended up in the end circuit. The only reason Clo was kept alive
for several more months was because she was pregnant, and many
customers liked pregnant girls. At one point in 1983, X1 was
picked up from school by Tony and taken to a house in the region
of Gent. She found Clo there, lying on a bed. Clo was trying to
deliver a baby, but in the process was raped and tortured and as
a result had lost a lot of blood. X1 in PV 116.018, October 25,
1996: "This happened in a house in Ghent. Clo was there,
too... They tortured her with knives and scissors. Someone broke
a bottle and rubbed the fragments into her vagina. Then they cut
her in various places with razor-blades." 1998, Regina Louf,
'Zwijgen is voor daders - De getuigenis van X1', p. 109-111:
"Several abusers from the core group got a kick out of pregnant
girls. Tony had so much demand for pregnant girls that he forbid
me to take the pill... I sat hours with her [Clo], I held her
awake, helped her to get through the contractions. But it went
slow. In between they did what they had done to me. They came to
abuse her, torture her with objects. Clo had a hard time dealing
with pain. She screamed in agony and I was forced to hold her
and keep her quiet. They said that they would hurt her even more
if I would not succeed in keeping her quiet. Crying, begging for
mercy, I held her, pressing my hand on her mouth. The more she
cried, the more ruthless they became. After what seemed like an
eternity they stopped and left us alone again. Clo couldn't go
on anymore. She continually floated between waking and sleeping,
and the baby wouldn't come. I gather all my courage and went to
the living room... 'Tony, Clo is really sick. She needs a
doctor.' He hits me, angry that I dared to interrupt him during
a pleasant conversation, and kicks me back into the room. 'You
better make sure this is over soon, bitch. Or I'll cut it
out.'... I walk back to the bed. Clo is pale with blue lips and
rings beneath her eyes... I press the baby out of her stomach
and tell her it's done... Clo doesn't wake up anymore... Tony
touches me and wants to pull me off the bed... I become
hysterical and scream that I have to hold Clo, punch and kick to
everything that moves... Two men hold me, press me in a corner
of the hallway, kick me a few times, until I keep lying down,
crying. Now that I've given up Tony begins to yell again. 'Dare
to stand up, bitch, you just dare! It is your fault, you hear
me! You let Clo die, so don't try to get up, because I will kill
you!" He kicked me in my side like a wild beast. 'Come on, give
me a reason to kill you.'" Clo died and her baby was taken
away. Present in that house were Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty,
Tony, Leopold Lippens, Michel Vander Elst and two other persons.
The deputy police commissioner of Knokke joined this group soon
afterwards in a Chinese restaurant. They went to the grandmother
of X1 where another rape and torture session was organized in
which the deputy police commissioner participated. XI couldn't
say much more about Clo, except that "she had an ankle
bracelet... a chainlet." (PV 102.688, May 31, 1997 (BOB in
Gent)), which was correct as this was found on Clo's body during
the 1985 autopsy. X1's testimony that Clo was in the final
stages of a pregnancy also seems confirmed. The 1985 autopsy
report noted that at the height of Clo's pelvis a "small
piece of soft wood-like tissue (laminaria tent)" was found.
Laminaria tents are thin pieces of sterile seaweed that are put
into the cervix. They slowly open up the cervix to make it
easier and more comfortable to give childbirth. Laminaria tents
can also be used during abortion procedures. X1 remembered the
street at which Clo's school was located at the time. January 8,
1998, De Morgen: "Thanks to research carried out at "Clo's"
school, the BSR investigators managed to guess who she was.
After that, BSR officers Patriek De Baets and Philippe Hupez
showed XI a series of class photos from the year 1981-82. XI not
only pointed to the photos of Carine Dellaert, but also to
another photo. According to XI, this was V. (she gave her first
name). She added: "They killed her, too. Clo told me that she
was called V.... After further research, the investigators not
only came across the old file on the murder of Carine Dellaert,
but also information concerning the second young girl. She was,
in fact, called V., and had died in the middle of 1983 in Ghent.
Regarding the list of people present according to XI, some of
the details were remarkable. As well as Michel Nihoul and a
woman who was arrested in the Dutroux case [Annie Bouty], XI
named her procurer T. [Tony], the lawyer [Michel Vander Elst]
and the burgomaster mentioned above[Leopold Lippens], and a
businessman from western Flanders and his son. XI could not
establish any links between all these people, except the fact
that she had met them on various occasions at orgies. The
investigators carried out research which showed that all the
people present had professional links of one sort or another,
links that were not apparent at first sight. The name of the man
she indicated as Clo's "procurer" was also remarkable. He had
already appeared as a suspect in the old file at the Ghent
Public prosecutor’s department. The man was known to the police
for a series of sexual crimes." In early 1997, the BOB in
Gent, headed by prosecutor of the king Jean Soenen, took over
the investigation of the X1-Clo link and ceased all cooperation
with De Baets and his team. X1 would work with this BOB division
on a number of occasions, but soon found them the most
intimidating of all. The BOB in Gent went to interview 28 former
classmates of Carine Dellaert. The first question they asked was
if any of these classmates could remember if Carine had ever
been called "Flo" or "Clo". The answer was no, because Carine
was primarily known under this name in the network. However:
1998, Regina Louf, 'Zwijgen is voor daders - De getuigenis van
X1', p. 288: "Several days later I came to know that Clo -
who, according to the District Attorney's office in Gent maybe
never existed and certainly was not Carine - also had classmates
who called her Clo. One of them confirms that only very few
people knew her under that name, and that she believed me the
minute she heard me talk about 'Clo'. Also the description I
gave of her was correct. Months later an older woman came to me,
who confirmed that another victim I had named had indeed died
under suspicious circumstances." The next question the
investigators asked was if anyone could remember if Carine ever
recruited girls to participate in sex orgies. This was followed
by an obvious denial by everyone. 1999, Marie-Jeanne Van
Heeswyck, Annemie Bulté, and Douglas De Coninck, 'De
X-dossiers', p. 501-502: "Let's call her Fanny V. It took us
two phone calls to find her. Few have known Carine Dellaert as
well as she did. They were classmates in the school years
1977-78 and 1978-79 in the town school Gezusters Loveling in the
Van Hulthemstraat in Gent [but she was never interviewed by the
BOB in Gent]. 'We became friends in sixth grade', Fanny says. 'I
was eleven or twelve then, Carine thirteen, I believe. What I
can tell you dates from that period.' Fanny has to chuckle when
she hears about the conclusions of the District Attorney's
office in Gent. In the official reports it is reported that her
friend was a hardworking pupil which never had any troubles at
home. 'In any case she was a year older than the rest of the
class', Fanny says. 'She already had failed one of the lower
classes. I looked up to her a lot. I was still a child, she a
real woman. She was physically and mentally so much stronger
than we. When my mother heard that she had become my best
friend, she went to complain about that with the school's
management. Because I had said to my mother that Carine
regularly had sex with her father and also with other men.
'No, Carine was not happy, not at all. On the playground we
sometimes sat silently next to each other the whole time. I felt
she was suffering immensely under the situation. She wanted to
run away from home, she often spoke about that: "Run away, far
away from here." 'She told me that she had to sleep with many
men... As far as Fanny remembered, Carine Dellaert told her that
this primarily happened at her home. I was still a child, didn't
understand anything and didn't ask more questions. What I do
remember is that her mother knew nothing about this. I used to
ask that all the time: and how about your mother, what does she
think? She's always gone, she said...' After the lower
school, in 1979, Fanny V. lost contact with Carine Dellaert. 'I
never saw her again.' She [Fanny] went to another school and got
to know other people there. One of them - we are not making this
up - was Regina Louf. 'Regina talked to almost no one', Fanny
continues. 'If Regina and Carine knew each other? To me that
seems perfectly possible. Regina also had her secret, she was
very introvert. If Regina and Carine knew each other through
such a circuit it would have been hard for me to find out. At
school you only saw the facade. I thought that you could compare
them, their attitudes. I have bought the book of Regina, but
I'm afraid to read it. I have wanted to start a few times, but
there are things in there... it hurts me too much.'" 1999,
'De X-dossiers', p. 503: "The first childhood friend of
Regina Louf who is interviewed in the summer of 1997 is
Kristelle M. [PV 103.011, September 1, 1997, BOB Gent, officer
Jan Vincent]. She was in the same class in the years 1983-84 and
1984-85... '[Regina] sometimes disappeared from school in the
afternoon', Kristelle remembered. If it is true what this woman
says, then the re-readers of the dossier Van Hees can fold a
boat from the absence register that they saw as 'proof' that
Regina Louf impossibly could have been in Brussels in the early
evening of February 13, 1984. What Kristelle M. remembered above
all, is that she continually talked about sex. She told how she
had a relationship with 'an older man'. According to M., the
whole class assumed that she was lying. Not Kristelle M. She had
seen with her own eyes how this 'older man' picked up Regina
after school. And there was something else: Regina at some point
told her that she was pregnant of that older man. Kristelle
M. also knew that Regina often spoke about a 'female friend with
whom she could amuse herself and with whom she often went out in
the Boudewijnstraat'. She didn't remember the name of the friend
anymore, 'but it could have been Christine, Carine, Caroline or
Claudine'. Kristelle M. could also tell that Regina, as a
kid of 14, drank alcohol and one morning arrived in class and
'smelled of liquor'. One time she arrived at school with a
clearly visible bruise..." The Gent BOB produced a short
list of minor (alleged and certain) mistakes in X1's testimony
and ignored as much as possible elements that seemed to be
accurate. On September 18, 1997, the Gent BOB inspectors went to
the home X1 described as the place where Clo had been murdered.
Rudy Hoskens and Stephane Liesenborg of De Baets' team had found
the house a year before through descriptions given by X1. They
concluded that it perfectly matched the description of X1. The
only thing they couldn't find was a small stone wall. 1999,
Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulte and Douglas De Coninck,
'The X-Dossiers', 493-494: "In his official report first
sergeant Jan Vincent of the BOB Gent extensively mentions the
small wall that clearly isn't there. That it's about a bungalow
surrounded by a garden, that he has to acknowledge. X1 also
talked about 'some sort of artificial pond, but not a natural
pond, a fairly square thing'. That pond, she noted, went around
the bungalow like a moat. About the house she said: 'Yes, such a
square thing, a kind of brick. With a small fountain.' Vincent
has to admit that the pond is there, but then - we cite
literally: 'This moat has more of a natural than an artificial
look. The water certainly is not a square thing and bricks or a
fountain are nowhere to be found.' Strange is that. One
inspector says white, the other one says black. What do we do
then? We went to take a look ourselves, of course. What turns
out? The house in Waarschoot is mostly surrounded by a pond
which is as square as square can be. Because of the sprouting of
trees and bushes, bumps can be found in the straight line that
was intended during construction, but if you keep in mind that
X1 said that she had been here in 1983, it is hard not to
conclude that the moat then must have formed a perfect square.
The house, as any passer-by can determine, certainly has been
built with bricks. And what is that there in middle of the
garden, right in front of the front door? A fountain! At least a
3 feet high fountain. It might not be a real fountain - no water
is coming out - but a white garden sculpture that can even be
seen from 100 yards away can impossibly be seen as something
else than a fountain." February 25, 2004, Herwig Lerouge
and Vinciane Convens, Solidaire, interview with Marie-Jeanne Van
Heeswyck: "We were sued several times. Gendarme officer
Vincent of the CBO in Gent was one of them. He for instance
allowed that an investigation that had been opened in response
to testimonies of Regina Louf, was closed. According to him, the
house that Regina Louf described did not match at all the house
he had visited himself. Regina described an artificial pond and
he said it was a natural pond and that the description of Regina
therefore was not accurate. In the end, the court decided in our
favor and said that our investigation was better than his. That
is written black on white. We proved that the house Regina Louf
described indeed matches the house that he visited. We even
found back the plans for the construction of the artificial
pond." It is known that the house mentioned by X1 in the
early 1990s was a brothel, the International Club. It was owned
and inhabited by Gustaaf Derdijn. In the early 1980s, Derdijn
also was the owner of the Co-Cli-Co, a night club to which X1
claimed to have been brought by her pimp, Tony, to be
prostituted. Clo also had some customers here. The Co-Cli-Co
club appeared in Tony's diary. When the Co-Cli-Co went bankrupt
in 1984, one of its largest creditors was Le Cinema Publicitaire,
a videostore owned by Tony. The largest creditor of Co-Cli-Co,
and it's real owner, was the firm All-Meat, in which Dendijn was
a partner together with the Dutch porn dealer Gerard Cok *. Cok,
together with his close business associate Charles Geerts **,
are major players in the worldwide porn industry. Both have
continually been linked to criminal practices, with especially
Geerts having been tied to the Dutch mafia. Both Cok and Geerts
ran the porn company Scala, which on several occasions was
linked to trade in child pornography, but virtually exclusively
through Geerts.
On April 24, 1998, the day after X1 had been confronted with
her former pimp Tony, who confessed to have had sex with her
from the age of 12, X1 was confronted with Emile Dellaert, the
father of Clo (Carine). X1 had already mentioned that Clo was
sold to the abuse network by her father. At the time of Clo's
disappearance, Emile had also been suspected by the police and
his ex-wife for being involved for a whole number reasons. For
example, they were asking themselves why he waited a week to
contact the police, why he claimed that Clo had ran away even
though she hadn't taken anything with her, why he made "sensual"
photos of his daughter, why Clo was often heard screaming in the
weeks before her disappearance, why she had become so extremely
afraid of the woods all of a sudden (she was a member of the
scouts), or why witnesses at the scouting club claimed that
father and daughter were acting more like a couple in love. It's
also interesting to note that Emile had already been
investigated for accusations of incest in 1977, next to
suspicions against him that he had an affair with an under aged
girl in the Netherlands in 1965. But to the Gent-based BOB
officers and examining magistrate Jean Soenen this seemingly all
didn't matter. Even though X1 had refused to cooperate anymore
by this time, Emile Dellaert's word apparently was considered
infinitely more reliable.
* Gerard Cok . Left the Slavenburg Bank in 1981 to
work with porn boss Charles Geerts, who has been accused on a
number of occasions of being a major child pornography dealer.
Sentenced to one year in jail in Belgium in 1984 for financial
fraud. Partner in the firm All-Meat in 1984, which was the major
investor in the Co-Cli-Co night club, in turn closely tied to
the child abuse network of X1 and her pimp Tony. Gustaaf
Derdijn, the official owner of the Co-Cli-Co and the owner of a
house in which allegedly a girl had once been tortured to death,
was another partner in All-Meat. Investigated in 1991 on
suspicions of involvement in financial fraud and the mafia.
Acquitted. Investigated in 1993 for financing a drug operation.
Acquitted. In June 1994, a tax inspector was forced by a court
of law to take back his statement that Cok was the "largest
money launderer in Zeeuw-Flanders". Took over 18 million
euros in stock from Charles Geerts' porn company in 1995. In
1998, Engelsma, Geerts and Cok, the owners of Scala, made a deal
with the District Attorney's office in Amsterdam to pay 5,5
million euros in return for non-prosecution on charges of fraud
and money laundering. Sold Scala and Pabo to Beate Uhse in 1999.
Director of Beate Uhse. Owner of European Business Consult GmbH.
Cok and his family own Summa N.V. in Belgium.
** Charles Geerts (nicknamed "fat
charles"; went into the porn business in the early 1960s; became
a millionaire many times over and headed companies as Intex and
Scala; arrested in the US in 1985 for trade in illegal
pornography; suspected of trade in child pornography at the time
by US authorities, but nothing was proven; in 1987, it became
known that Scotland Yard suspected Geerts of being one of the
international child pornography kingpins. Inspector Donaldson of
Scotland Yard stated: "Videorama, as well as Scala Agenturen
BV, has been involved in child pornography"; his firm Scala
laundered money for Bruinsma and Reuben Sturman; client of
Faber, De Jong & Blom in the 1980s, together with notorious
figures as Klaas Bruisma, John Engelsma, Etienne Urka, men from
Sam Klepper's gang, and others; present at the wedding of Bram
Moszkowicz, Holland's most famous lawyer and former lawyer of
Willem Holleeder, one of the most notorious gangsters in
Holland). Geerts was a good friend of the late Klaas
Bruinsma, once Holland's most well-known and ruthless gangster.
In the late 1980s, Bruisma was the largest drug dealer in
Europe. Bruisma had a close relationship with Mabel Wisse Smit,
these days daughter-in-law of Queen Beatrix. At least in the
years before his death, Smit (raised by
Peter Wisse Smit, a director at the large RABO bank; allegedly,
Peter Smit had introduced Klaas Bruisma, at one point Holland's
and Europe's biggest drug dealer, not to mention a friend and
alleged girlfriend of Mabel, to Dutch aristocratic circles;
traineeship at the United Nations, Shell, ABN AMRO and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; former girlfriend of former UN
Ambassador to the Balkans Mohammed Sacirbey, who was arrested on
charges that he laundered $600,000 of UN and Bosnian government
funds; co-founder of War Child in the Netherlands in 1995;
director of George Soros' Open Society Institute in Brussels
since 1997; appeared on a leaked scientology mailing list with
her Open Society email; married Prince Johan Friso, second son
of Queen Beatrix, in 2003) regularly visited Bruisma on
his yacht. Bruisma is often named in one breath with other
(former) Dutch gangster as Willem Holleeder, Mink Kok, Sam
Klepper and John Mieremet. Even though they are well known
criminals, most of these men tend or tended to stay out of jail.
Their careers more often than not are ended by gangland
assassinations. November 26, 1985 newspaper article brought into
view by Zembla, De X-dossiers - Part II (March 18, 2003):
"On top of that, the American Justice department suspects the
Amsterdammer of other serious facts, which would have been
committed in Europe, like trade in child pornography,
anesthetics and weapons. Certain things have been confirmed by a
spokesperson of the company of Charles G., the wholesale in
videos and sex magazines, Intex Nederland BV... According to
Marie, the Intex director was already closely monitored for
years at all American airports without ever being arrested. Van
Marie: "I think it has to do with child pornography. The
Americans have been fixated on Holland for years and still think
this is the center of child pornography. One and a half years
ago, however, we were visited by the police and cleaned up all
the child pornography [reference to minimum age differences
between countries]." February 13, 1990, Toronto Star, 'U.S.
porn king jailed 10 years for tax evasion': "CLEVELAND, Ohio
- The world's largest distributor of hard-core pornography - and
the main importer into Ontario - has been sentenced to 10 years
in jail and fined $2.5 million for tax evasion and obstruction
of justice. Reuben Sturman [protected by the NYC Gambino crime
family] "directed a 20-year-long conspiracy to evade taxes and
conceal his ownership" of a far-flung pornography empire, U.S.
government lawyers said here during yesterday's sentencing...
Charles Geerts of Holland, a friend of Sturman and an
international distributor of child pornography, according to
investigators, put up $500,000 of Sturman's bail without
security or collateral." Nieuwe Revu, 'The truth about
child pornography', as brought into view by Zembla, De
X-dossiers - Part II (March 18, 2003): "For months the
Nieuwe Revu involved itself in the world of child pornography...
in that small world the same name is mentioned time and time
again: Charles Geerts. He would, to this day, be involved in the
trade in child pornography. But Geerts himself denies. Firmly."
April 4, 1995, South China Morning Post: "HONG KONG has
become the focus of a five-year Dutch money laundering and tax
evasion investigation linked to a series of murders, drug
trafficking, pornography, and millions of dollars in allegedly
dirty cash... The investigation revolves around alleged tax
evasion by Dutchman Charlie Geerts , who runs the largest
pornographic business in Europe and who was arrested last
November. His company, Scala, based in Holland where pornography
is legal, is also under investigation, as is a Hong Kong company
believed to have been used as a front to launder about $100
million since 1988... A source said profits from European drug
trafficking were brought to Hong Kong and laundered through the
company here, then wired back to Holland as large loans for gang
members." January 19, 2007, Deutsche Press-Agentur,
'Amsterdam's prostitute windows gain temporary reprieve':
"Amsterdam (dpa) - An Amsterdam court Friday granted a temporary
reprieve to 33 sex businesses in the city's Red Light District,
reversing a decision by the city authorities to withdraw their
licences. The court ruled the Amsterdam city authorities, who
allege the businesses are linked to organized crime, had no
"urgent need" to close down the businesses - largely the
prostitutes' windows for which the area is famous... The 33
business, most of them owned or financed by businessman Charles
Geerts, are estimated to make up around a third of all the
prostitutes' windows in the "Wallen," as the Dutch capital's Red
Light District is known." |
Christine Van Hees |
-
|
Picture recognized by X1 in
PV 116.990, November 13, 1996.
On February 13, 1984, 8:45 PM, after an emergency fire
response to an old champignon factory, the 16 year old Christine
Van Hees was found dead. She had been severely tortured before
having been murdered. The perpetrators tried to burn the body,
but this was only partly successful. Against standard
regulations, two heads of investigation were appointed to the
Van Hees case, instead of one: Guy Collignon and Georges Ceupens.
In the years that followed, a group of punks began making
completely incoherent statements that they had murdered
Christine Van Hees. They also talked about black masses,
druidism and satanism. The chief suspect of the murder became
Serge Clooth, a drug addicted punk who almost daily completely
changed his previous testimony. He did, however, seem to know a
few details about the murder. In November 1984, his grandmother
testified that a young Brussels attorney had informed her son
(Serge's father) that Serge had been drugged and liquored up by
the judicial police in return for reading up a scripted
testimony. In January 1985, investigating judge Michel Eloy
(also tasked with the CCC bombings; would never meet the parents
of Van Hees) was struck by a heart attack, followed by a nervous
breakdown. In June 1985, Eloy quit his job and decided to move
to the Seychellen. Jean-Claude Van Espen (a buddy of Nihoul who
helped torpedo the X-witnesses investigation), a rookie who had
no experience with murder cases, became the new examining
magistrate. Van Espen also did not contact the parents of
Christine and never visited the crime scene. On November 25,
1985, Van Espen first met Serge who again stated that his
earlier statements were repeats of what the police officers read
out to him. Serge was released on November 17, 1987. Around this
time he came into contact with Didier de Quevy (lawyer of Alexis
Alewaeters and soon Marc Dutroux) and Jean-Paul Dumont (CEPIC
lawyer; accused by different sources of being part of the Nihoul
abuse network), who represented him at the European Court of
Human Rights. In 1991, Belgium was condemned for having detained
Clooth too long without any good reason. Quevy talked about the
police rewarding suspects with drugs in exchange for
testimonies. One of the punks, Marc Duriau, had died on August
1, 1986 from an overdose of heroin in the presence of his lawyer
and two other once suspected junks. Clooth and another punk
would later claim that Duriau knew too much and therefore was
killed. The lawyer was later arrested for involvement in drug
business with these punks. At some point, Guy Collignon, one of
two chief investigators of the Christine Van Hees case, picked
up Michel, Christine's younger brother, from school. According
to Michel, Collignon told him: "While I was eating, de
Collignon explained to me that the investigation was evolving
towards important, high level people. He said it would be better
to leave those people alone, that he would soon be promoted and
that he would probably not be involved anymore in the
investigation." (PV 100.450, January 19, 1997). In 1996, X1
was shown pictures of the punks, but didn't recognize any of
them.
On October 25, 1996, X1 mentioned a number of girls she had
witnessed being murdered. Among these names was a "Kristien".
Because of the timeframe, De Baets and Hupez soon thought about
"le crime de la champignonniere", but thought it had
been solved (the punks). After inquiring they were told that
this was not the case. According to X1, Christine had met with
Nihoul in October 1983 with whom she started a relationship.
Christine had been fascinated with Nihoul, but indicated to
friends that she didn't really love this person (didn't give her
friends any details about who this person was). According to X1,
after Christine had been initiated to the network through a
traumatizing ritual abuse ceremony, Christine had told X1 that
she was very afraid to talk with her parents about the mess she
had gotten herself into. Not only was she afraid that her
parents wouldn't understand, she also worried about threats of
Nihoul that her family would be hurt if she spoke to them about
the network. Against all protocols, X1 told Christine that she
should try to speak with her parents. When X1 indicated to Mieke,
another girl from the network, that she had given this advice to
Christine, Mieke went to Nihoul and Tony and told them about
X1's advice to Christine. The reason for Mieke ratting out X1
was that she was afraid of reprisals if Christine suddenly left.
Besides that, Christine was very unpopular, even with X1,
because she didn't handle the abuse very well, and as a result
of that the other girls were continually punished for her
mistakes and stubborn behaviour. In the days after Mieke had
informed Tony and Nihoul, Christine was tortured and murdered in
the presence of X1. According to X1, Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty,
Bernard Weinstein, Marc Dutroux, Michel Vander Elst, Tony and
the parents of Anne (a girl in the network) were present at the
murder. Because no higher level officials were mentioned in this
case, it had been given priority by the Obelix cell. Van Espen
again headed the inquiry and saw to it that it was terminated.
Following is a list of points that show - almost beyond doubt
- why the Christine of X1 was Christine Van Hees. That's not to
say that every detail or name mentioned by X1 is also accurate.
- X1 had stated that Dutroux, who she described as a bit
of an outsider, was present at the murder of Christine.
Research showed that in the early 1980s Marc Dutroux and
Bernard Weinstein visited the same skating rink as Christine
Van Hees. According to Michele Martin, Dutroux went there
alone since 1983 to make it easier for him to "seduce
girls". Just before her death, it is known that Christine
had a date with a "Marc" who could well have been Marc
Dutroux. However, no conclusive research has been carried
out. Additionally, Nathalie Geirnaert, a friend of Christine
who lived in the same street as her, recognized Marc Dutroux
on two old pictures from the early 1980s as someone who she
had seen in the company of Christine. Nathalie explained
that in the days before her kidnapping, Christine had become
extremely scared of someone or something. When she would
leave Nathalie's house, Christine would ask Nathalie to
accompany her to her house or ask her to stay at the door
until she was inside. The night before the murder Nathalie
noticed a suspicious black car in front of Christine's house
from 23:30 to 13:00. A man had been sitting behind the wheel
the whole time. Nothing was done with Nathalie's testimony.
- According to X1, Christine had met Nihoul in October
1983 and had begun a relationship with him. Friends of
Christine later testified that she had begun to act
different for the first time in October 1983. Also,
Christine often went to the swimming bath of Etterbeek. One
floor above this swimming bath the radio show of Michel
Nihoul was located. Nihoul had already been very active in
Etterbeek through the Dolo. Coincidentally, during the
investigation into Christine's murder an anonymous tip came
in that the Dolo in Etterbeek was the key to solving the
Christine Van Hees murder. No investigation was carried out.
In fact, somehow the investigators, headed by Van Espen,
managed to write down that the tip was about cafe Chez
Dolores instead of the Dolo.
- In late 1984, Fabienne Kirby, a friend of Christine Van
Hees in her final months, gave a testimony that would not be
incompatible with the one of X1 12 years later. According to
Fabienne, Christine had told her how she had ended up in a
dangerous group of people involved in sex orgies and
apparently sadism. PV 7112, February 20, 1984, Fabienne
Kirby (anonymous at the time) to the judicial police:
"We got to know each other in October 1983. Over time our
discussions became more and more intimate. Christine told
such unbelievable stories that I slowly became convinced
that she made things up. She told me that she had gotten to
know a group of people. She regularly saw them at an
abandoned house close to her house. She regularly saw these
people in the months October and November 1983. These people
were older than Christine. She explained to me that meetings
were held in that house, to which a road led about nobody
knew. Other girls were in the group. Sometimes, she said,
she went alone to the house to write her diary. Christine
never spoke about this with girls from her school class. I
was bewildered when she told me what happened there. She
told me that if she ever spoke about this with her parents
or brothers, her so-called friends would kill her and burn
down the house. She told that in the group free love is
practiced... She told me that this group attracted and
frightened her at the same time. In early 1984, I noticed
that Christine had changed a lot. She had lost weight, was
paler and in any case took less care of herself. She said
she wanted to blow up all bridges because very bad things
had happened. I noticed that she had bruises, and a
cigarette burn on her arm. She then explained that it had
started as a game, that those games had started slowly, but
then became violent. Christine had come into conflict with
one of the other girls in the other group. She felt very
much attracted to a member of the gang. She told me that it
was possible to feel sexually attracted to a man, without
really loving him. She truanted from school. About her
friends she said: 'They are pigs, but I feel good with
them.' She said me that, once you ended up in that milieu,
you never got out. It was of little use, she said, to talk
about it with someone, because no one would believe her.'"
Kirby explained that she had undergone an abortion during
the time that she knew Christine. The father would have been
a member of the Derochette family and a full cousin of the
now well known pedophile Patrick Derochette. A law clerk of
examining magistrate Jean-Claude Van Espen, who headed the
investigation into Christine Van Hees, married into the
Derochette family and was tied to the kidnapping and murder
of Loubna Benaissa. It is known that a woman named Nathalie
Perignon phoned up Fabienne during the Dutroux and X-witness
investigation. Coincidentally, Perignon had been present
with three men in a black car observing the champignon
factory where Christine had been murdered the week before.
All four individuals in the car worked at Nihoul's Radio
Activite and personally knew Nihoul.
- X1 was blindfolded and bare-footed when she, Christine
and the abusers stepped out of the car. Before entering the
compound she felt a lot of gravel under her feet. It is
correct that in 1984 there was gravel all over the place.
- The compound she was brought into smelled moldy, like it
hadn't been used for a long time. This seems likely, as the
champignon factory had been abandoned since 1972.
- X1's overall description of the champignon factory where
Christine was murdered is accurate. The former owner and his
son could step by step find themselves in the description
given by X1; from stepping out of the car to the location
where Christine had been murdered. The son of the former
owner of the champignon factory to Zembla (Dutch TV), 'De
X-dossiers - Part I' (March 11, 2003): "The doors. We
had very special, hand-made doors. Old doors with ornaments,
which she described perfectly. She knew all that. She drew
the chimney and the living room. It matched quite well. The
chimney looked like it. She drew the rose window. A rose
window is a rose window. It could well be our rose window.
What she told about the champignoniere was accurate. I
showed the description [of X1] to one of my brothers. That
girl had to have been there. There's no other way."
1999, Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, Annemie Bulte and Douglas
De Coninck, 'De X-Dossiers', p. 244-245: "The son is
responsible for a stir when the texts [descriptions of the
champignoniere of X1 and an inspector at the scene. They
differ] are presented to him. 'That police officer has not
been inside there, your witness X1 was'... The police
officer in question, Jacques Dekock, is summoned that
evening and immediately confronted with the son. The
confrontation doesn't last long. It's true, he admits. He
was so dismayed by the body that evening that he hardly
looked at the rest of the building. The complex was
demolished in 1989. Nowhere information is available about
how the building looked in 1984. It was such a complex clew
of houses, hangers, driveways, halls and basements that all
who would try to do a little guessing on describing the
place would be seen through immediately. And that is what is
so bizarre. The inspectors just couldn't figure it out how
X1 told them that she got there by car, stepped out,
stumbled... The son of the owner had no problems with this.
Almost immediately he could tell exactly through where X1
entered the building and how she reached the basement. That
she stumbled in the hall is logical, he says. More people
used to do that. By rebuilding two houses into one, a
connection had been created with two stairs: the first one
going down, then up again. 'In reality she was in the
kitchen', the son deducts from the description of the
wallpaper and the tiles - which also is perfectly accurate.
He went through it with his family. 'There are things we
read in her testimony that reminded us of details that we
ourselves had long forgotten, like the motif on the tiles',
he later says. Indeed, from the kitchen there was a separate
doorway to the basement. And those flesh hooks? Yet another
detail that only now recalls memories. 'Of course, then she
was in the scullery', the son says. His uncle made meat pies
and had created a sort of industrial kitchen in the adjacent
building. With a pen in his hand the son draws the route
that X1 must have travelled that night. The rugged wooden
table, the rain barrel... Yes, yes, his father had left that
when he moved out. It is extraordinarily, no question about
it."
- In 1984, a tampon with blood on it was found in a
building located 30 feet away from the basement in which
Christine had been murdered. This matches X1's 1996
testimony that blood in the vagina of Christine had been
absorbed with a tampon. The blood type matched that of
Christine's. A DNA test was in process in 1999, just as a
DNA test on a cigarette butt that had been found at the
murder site. However, Van Espen closed the investigation
before the results could be made available. Burned notebooks
and a satchel belonging to Christine were found in the same
building, disproving claims from magistrates that this
building was not accessible at the time of the murder. By
confusing the description of the building and the basement,
these magistrates had first claimed that X1's description of
the murder site wasn't correct and that the bloody tampon
was irrelevant. However, they were later forced to recant
this argument as X1 had always made a clear distinction
between the building where the abuse and torture began, and
the basement where Christine was ultimately murdered.
- In the last room X1 said she and Christine had been
brought, she had seen a rope and a jerrycan. The police
report at the time stated that a rope and a jerrycan had
been found in the room where Christine had been found.
- According to X1, candles were the only source of light
in the building. A candle was among the items found at the
murder location.
- Christine's body had been found lying face down, arching
back because a metal strand had been tied from her neck to
her wrists and on to her ankles. X1 had mentioned how her
Christine had been tied up in this same way and with a metal
strand.
- According to X1, Christine was set on fire while lying
tied up on the ground. The autopsy report of Christine Van
Hees showed that her body had been burned to such a degree
that it initially was hard to tell her gender.
- X1 described how one of Christine's wrists was
penetrated by a "a metal bar... hollow inside... 30
centimeters long". Although the re-readers tried to
deny the existence of a wound to Christine's left wrist, the
first police commissioner to describe the scene wrote in his
official report: "A nail is planted in the left wrist"
and indicated that it had been taken from one of the
numerous racks that were located in the building. Reading
the testimony of X1, the former owner and his family also
immediately thought about the racks and estimated the length
of these hollow tubes at "30 or 40 centimeters".
The "nails" in these racks indeed were thin hollow tubes,
which at one time supported the shelves with growing
mushrooms. Investigators and magistrates tried to spin the
story by claiming that X1 had spoken about a
"crucifixion" and specifically a "nail".
Earlier, they had tried to claim that no object had
penetrated the wrist of Christine. However, they could not
convince the officer who had found the body of Christine to
change his initial 1984 report.
- According to X1, Michel Vander Elst was the one who beat
the nail-like object through Christine's wrist with a
hammer. A hammer was found at the location where Christine
had been murdered.
- The girl X1 talked about having been murdered was
"Chrissie", full name Christine. She gave this name and
details about the murder before De Baets and team could
match it with the Christine Van Hees murder. Coincidentally,
all other details also matched the story of X1.
Following are some of the "strongest" arguments used against
X1's testimony about Christine Van Hees. Most of these arguments
from the justice department were publicly made available on
April 29, 1998, by Flemish newspapers as De Standaard and Het
Nieuwsblad. Substitute magistrate Paule Somers was the main
source of these articles.
- ARGUMENT: The building X1 described certainly was not
the place where Christine had been found.
EXPLANATION: Nobody, and certainly not X1, claimed that
Christine had been murdered in the building. X1 had always
made a distinction between the building where the abuse and
torture began, and the basement, located about 30 feet away,
where Christine had been murdered. X1's description of the
whole location was considered perfectly accurate by the
former owners. Somers would later also acknowledge that X1's
description was accurate, but quickly added that the
building was not accessible at the time of the murder.
- ARGUMENT: The investigators found a tampon, but only in
a building adjacent to the location where Christine was
found. This building was sealed at the time of the murder.
Also, the tampon had only a little bit of blood on it and
was not "soaked".
EXPLANATION: Burned notebooks and a satchel belonging to
Christine were found in the same building as where the
tampon was found. The first discovered fire on the evening
of the murder also started in this building. According to
X1, the torture of Christine started when her group entered
this building. Exactly how bloody the tampon was is a
relatively minor detail.
- ARGUMENT: There was no wound to the wrist of Christine.
A nail or hollow tube had melted into Christine's wrist
after she had been set on fire.
EXPLANATION: The re-readers tried to convince the police
officer who had described the murder scene that he was wrong
when he wrote in his official report: "A nail is planted
in the left wrist". Even after showing him photos from
1984, the police officer saw no reason to recant his report
about what he had seen. Apparently this did not matter to
the re-readers.
- ARGUMENT: X1 had taken all of her information from old
newspapers.
EXPLANATION: No old newspaper clippings about the Van Hees
murder were found in the possession of X1. Many small
details X1 mentioned never appeared in the newspapers. X1's
description of the building is a clear indication that she
actually has been at the champignoniere.
- ARGUMENT: The parents of Christine Van Hees tricked X1
during a confrontation by asking X1 about Christine's trip
to Canada in the weeks before her death. According to
magistrate Paule Somers, "X1 immediately remembered what
Christine had been telling about that. But mother Van Hees
trapped X1. Christine had never been to Canada."
EXPLANATION: In early 1999, Brussels lawyer Patricia
Vandersmissen volunteered to help X1 defend herself against
the constant barrage of press attacks. As a result, she was
given insight into a portion of the X-dossier. One of the
first things Vandersmissen wanted to find out was what X1
exactly had said in response to the statement that Christine
had been to Canada in the weeks before her death.
Vandersmissen read the whole transcript of the confrontation
from front to back and from back to front. It turned out
that the only thing X1 had said about Christine's alleged
trip to Canada was: "I don't think we ever got the
chance, to talk about those things." That's it. The
newspapers and magistrates had been lying.
- ARGUMENT: X1 could not identify the picture of Christine
Van Hees.
EXPLANATION: This misidentification happened on November 13,
1996, at 7 in the morning, after 8 hours of interviewing. X1
was given five pictures and correctly stated that Christine
was among them. However, as happened many times before and
after this interview, X1 had tremendous difficulty with
looking at pictures. Because she had MPS/DID, looking at the
correct pictures triggered horrible repressed memories. As
she had already been interviewed for eight hours, she had
stated several times that it had been enough for that night.
However, De Baets kept pushing, and according to X1, she
knew that if she correctly identified Christine, the
interview would continue for at least another hour.
Therefore she randomly picked from the other faces and made
it clear that she was just making a statement. X1: "If
you were able to look at the tape, you would see that after
I pointed to the picture P10 I looked at De Baets and Hupez
with an exultant look on my face. Like: and now it's your
turn! I wanted to make it clear to them that I was serious
that I wanted to go home. I was furious at them, then."
The interviewers apparently got the message and not only
broke off the interview, but also wrote down that X1
intentionally picked the wrong photo. PV 116.990, November
13, 1996, 7th interview of X1: "X1 recognizes Christine
on photo." Explanation in PV 117.487, December 12, 1996
(Hupez), which was ignored by the re-readers: "Topic:
identification of the picture X1-P10. During her interview,
described in the official report under reference A, X1
described the murder on victim, Christine... X1 testified to
have recognized Christine between the pictures presented to
her, but does not identify the picture she recognizes. The
question is asked again to X1 (line 1305 and further), who
hesitates continually, comes with the same arguments
pertaining to this recognition: - If I do this everything
becomes real again - I am afraid to be wrong - It has been
such a long time - I doubt myself - I knew her, but I doubt
myself, because it was in different circumstances, certainly
in other circumstances than on the photo. Finally, X1 points
to the picture X1-P10. We identified the person on photo P10
as D. Anik... It not about the victim X1 spoke... 414 We
conclude from this: 1. the picture P10, pointed out by X1,
is not the victim she spoke about, Christine. 2. But the
photo of the victim was among those shown to X1 [5 in
total], which she intentionally didn't point out."
In other words, it appears that none of the arguments of the
re-readers stand up to scrutiny and the X1-Christine Van Hees
dossier should never have been closed. |
Katrien de Cuyper
|
December 17, 1991
|
X1 recognized Katrien de Cuyper among a batch
of pictures of children (PV 150.067, February 2, 1997);
interviewed about the girl a week later in which she gave a
story that put her Katrien in the same timeframe as Katrien de
Cuyper's disappearance
Born on April 29, 1976. Disappeared in the evening of
December 17, 1991 in Antwerp, after having last been seen making
a phone call in the cafe les Routiers (the Truck Drivers). Found
dead on June 22, 1992. Autopsy showed she had been murdered soon
after the kidnapping.
X1 recognized Katrien from a series of pictures shown to her
on February 2, 1997. Although she had no way of knowing for
sure, X1 thought that this girl had been recruited by Tony.
About the timeframe: "I am not able to perfectly remind when
it precisely happened. I believe that I already had Eli. I'm not
certain of Yentl... It happened more or less in this period."
Eli was born on July 3, 1990. Yentl born on July 18, 1991. X1
said how this girl, which she remembered being called Katrien
(Dutch)/Catherine (French), had been taken to a castle and was
murdered by a group that included Michel Nihoul, Annie Bouty,
Joost Bert, Michel Vander Elst, Tony Vandenbogaert, Leopold
Lippens, the assumed owner of the castle, and several others. In
fact, X1 was forced to kill Katrien. At the time of the
interview, X1 didn't know the name of the castle, nor the exact
location, but after she had given a description of the castle
and the route she had travelled in 1990 or 1991, the
investigators were able to find the domain in question. It
turned out to be Castle Kattenhof. Before she was killed, X1 had
noticed that Katrien lacked the routine the more experienced
girls had. Later on, X1 would testify that she had been taken to
this castle on at least a dozen occasions and that quite a
number of girls were abused and killed here.
X1 remembered her Katrien as (she could hardly be sure about
some of the smaller details):
- Called Katrien by Tony, Nihoul, etc.
- 12 or 13 years old.
- Blond hair to her shoulders, not even.
- Light-colored eyes, possibly brown.
- Still a child.
- Not fat.
- Quite pale.
- About 160 cm tall.
- Dark armpit hair.
Investigators into the disappearance of Katrien and the
claims made by X1 completely dismissed the possibility that the
Katrien of X1 could possibly have been Katrien De Cuyper. They
gave the following reasons:
- Katrien looked at least like a 16 year old, while X1
spoke about a 12 or 13 year old girl (at the time of her
disappearance Katrien was 15 years and 8 months old).
- Katrien was not a child anymore. She already had female
curves. X1 stated that her Katrien still looked very much
like a child.
- 170 cm tall instead of "approximately 160".
- Katrien had clear blue eyes, instead of the "light-colored,
possibly brown" eyes described by X1.
- Katrien's hair reached just past her shoulders. X1 had
correctly described the color of the hair, but stated that
it reached to her shoulders and was uneven.
- Katrien wasn't pale. She had a normal color. X1 had
stated that her Katrien looked pale.
- She had light-blond armpit hair, instead of the dark
armpit hair described by X1.
Although X1's description appears to be far from perfect,
most people who look at the cartographic sketch based on X1's
description and pictures of Katrien De Cuyper, combined with the
timeframe in which X1 placed the murder and the fact that
researchers could identify the castle X1 spoke about, will
conclude that the conclusion that Katrien de Cuyper in no way
could have been X1's Katrien is a bit of overdrawn. The case
X1-Katrien de Cuyper was closed after this conclusion was
reached.
However, one of the most interesting aspect of the X1-Katrien
de Cuyper case is that during the observation of Tony
Vandenbogaert, X1's pimp, it had become known that Tony was in
continuous contact with a gendarme officer from Antwerp. They
would regularly call or email each other. But interestingly,
after this fact had already become known, this particular
gendarme officer was appointed to a leading position in the
investigation into this same Tony. De Baets and his team
reminded their superiors that this was an obvious conflict of
interest. However, no changes were made, and this gendarme
officer became one of those responsible for dismissing the
possibility that the Katrien described by X1 couldn't possibly
have been Katrien de Cuyper (in whose murder Tony was implicated
by X1). March 18, 2003, Zembla (Dutch TV), 'De X-dossiers - Part
II' : "[Patricia van der Smissen, lawyer of Regina Louf:] It
was observed that he phoned this person more than ten times on a
day that he was observed. Maybe he noticed that he was being
shadowed. In any case, he often called this gendarme officer. We
also know that they were in contact over the internet. And from
one day to the next this person is put on the case, after it had
already been known that he was in contact with Tony... [BOB
officer Rudy Hoskens of De Baets' investigating team:] Then you
start asking yourself a few questions, wouldn't you? Then this
is not the right person in the right place. I did complain about
this to my superiors, but this person kept serving on the same
dossier."
In mid 1999, when the Dutch police put together a catalog of
pictures found at the home of paedophile Gerrie Ulrich, there
was a porn photo in there of a girl who closely resembled
Katrien de Cuyper. Among the pictures and documents found at
Ulrich were forms to make requests for specific forms of child
pornography. An investigation showed that Ulrich regularly
donated large sums of money to a post office box located above
the cafe in Antwerp where Katrien De Cuyper had last been seen
making a phone call. Two Dutch porn firms were located at this
address: Studio De Pauw and X-Kiss. Whether or not Katrien de
Cuyper was found among the pictures in Ulrich's home, in 2004,
the District Attorney's office in Antwerp closed the case by
stating that the picture in Ulrich's home "appears to be a boy",
after having been shown a picture -allegedly a photomontage- of
"Katrien" with the body of boy. Anyone who has taken a look at
the picture will know that the unidentified person which was
suspected to be Katrien unmistakably was a girl. |
Loubna Benaissa
Name |
Date disappearance
|
Additional info
|
Loubna Benaissa |
August 5, 1992
|
On August 5, 1992, the nine year old Loubna Benaissa
disappeared. Thirteen days after her disappearance, a classmate
of Loubna, Aziza, reported seeing Loubna sitting in the back of
a black Volkswagen Golf that drove by. She was so convinced that
it was Loubna that she quickly wrote down the license plate of
the car on her arm: FKE080. The Brussels judicial police checked
this license plate in 1992, but couldn't link it with a black
Volkswagen. In September 1996, the parents of Loubna filed an
official complaint about the earlier investigation, which led to
another one. The new investigators checked if Aziza might have
written a letter or a number of the license plate wrong. Soon
license plate FHE080 turned out to belong to the law clerk of
magistrate Jean-Claude Van Espen, who owned two Volkswagen Golfs,
albeit not a black one. This law clerk of Van Espen was married
into the Derochette family. One of these family members, Patrick
Derochette, was a known child abuser, while the brother of
Patrick owned a black Volkswagen Golf. The investigators assumed
it was perfectly possible that license plates were swapped
within the family and soon Derochette became one of their
leading suspects. On March 5, 1997, during a house search,
Loubna was found buried in the basement of Patrick Derochette.
Interestingly, Aime Bille of the research team of De Baets found
out that a full cousin of Patrick Derochette made Fabienne
Kirby, a friend of Christine Van Hees back in the early 1980s,
pregnant. Van Espen, who was named a child abuser by Nihoul and
played a dubious role in the X1-Christine van Hees case, was
never under any formal investigation. |
Dutroux's victims
Name |
Date disappearance
|
Additional info
|
Julie Lejeune |
June 24, 1995
|
8 years old when she was kidnapped. Her parents claimed that
the police did not investigate links pointing to a network of
pedophiles. Witnesses contacted the police that they had seen
Julie and Melissa in Knokke, Blankenberge, Switzerland and
prostitution bars in Charleroi (and in one case, one of the
informants committed suicide while on his way to testify about
having seen Julie and Melissa). None of these witness statements
were taken serious by the investigators of Langlois. Found dead
on August 17, 1996, buried in one of the gardens of Dutroux.
Jean Denis Lejeune, the father of Julie, made the following
comment on ZDF (German) television on January 30, 2001: "As
if by coincidence people die. There is no explanation for their
deaths. For instance, they are victims of a deadly traffic
accident just when they are under way to testify. Or one finds
their charred bodies. Our judiciary apparently doesn't have
sleepless nights over this." |
Melissa Russo |
June 24, 1995
|
8 years old when she was kidnapped. Her parents claim the
police did not investigate links pointing to a network of
pedophiles. Witnesses contacted the police that they had seen
Julie and Melissa in Knokke, Blankenberge, Switzerland and
prostitution bars in Charleroi. None of these witness statements
were taken serious by the investigators of Langlois (and in one
case, one of the informants committed suicide while on his way
to testify about having seen Julie and Melissa). Found dead on
August 17, 1996, buried in one of the gardens of Dutroux. May 5,
2002, The Observer, 'Investigation: Belgium's silent heart of
darkness': "Carine Russo was not allowed to see her
daughter's body. 'I begged and pleaded. I went with my lawyer
but they refused. They told me the law did not permit it. "But
who will identify my daughter?" I asked them. "Who will confirm
that it's her?" "Dutroux has identified her," they told me.'
Then Carine looks at me. 'It is stupefying,' she says. The
autopsy report reveals Melissa was raped repeatedly over a
prolonged period. But there is nothing, no DNA evidence, no
witness sightings, no forensics of any kind to show whether it
was Dutroux, or anyone else. Carine Russo points to a wall of
files in her office. 'Where are the results of the swabs taken
from Melissa's body for analysis? We know swabs were taken. It
says so in the reports. But there are no results. I've asked the
prosecutor repeatedly and no one seems to know.' After their
years of grief and their betrayal by the Belgian police and
judiciary, the Russos barely believe a word of the official
version: that Dutroux, the lone paedophile, kidnapped the girls
for his personal use and kept them in the cage in his cellar
until their death of starvation the day he returned home after
four months in jail. How, they ask, could two children survive
alone with virtually no food or water for four months? The
Russos suspect the girls weren't there at all. A number of
reported sightings of Melissa, one in an upstairs room of a
Charleroi nightclub, which were never followed up, have
convinced them that someone else had access to the girls while
Dutroux was in jail. Why else, they ask, were the hairs which
detectives gathered from the dungeon in Dutroux's cellar never
sent for DNA analysis? Why did Judge Langlois, Connerotte's
replacement, refuse to have them tested despite pressure from
his prosecutor, Michel Bourlet, who believed that a DNA
identification of those hairs might reveal who else was
involved. Langlois's boss, the Prosecutor General of Liege, Anne
Thily, says: 'There was no need to get the hairs analyzed as no
one else entered the cage. There was no network so there was no
need to look for evidence of one. 'In any case,' she continued,
'the hairs have all now been analyzed - all 5,000.' And the
results of this analysis? 'Nothing.' Thily flashed me a
triumphant smile. 'No evidence of any relevance in the Dutroux
affair. Which proves, of course, that Langlois was right all
along.' But this is not true. Sources central to the
investigation confirm that to date the hairs have still not been
analyzed. How can such a senior figure lie so brazenly? Another
Belgian mystery. 'Who raped the children?' I asked Thily.
'Dutroux of course.' 'But he denies it. How will you prove it to
the jury? There was no DNA test?' Now she was indignant. 'There
were DNA tests, Madame.' 'And the results?' 'Inconclusive. The
bodies were too decomposed to test for DNA,' she says. But this
too makes no sense. The autopsy states clearly that the bodies
were not decomposed. Samples were taken. But no one seems to
know what has happened to the results." |
An Marchal |
August 22, 1995
|
17 years old when she was kidnapped by Dutroux and Lelièvre.
Assumed to have been killed in September 1995. Dutroux deposited
10,000 euros in one of his bank accounts in September 1995,
possibly a payments for having kidnapped An and Eefje. Found
dead on September 3, 1996. Her father strongly believes there's
a cover up about the Dutroux-Nihoul network, and because of that
came into conflict with the father of Eefje. June 8, 2004, Het
Nieuwsblad, 'Met de voeten vooruit' ('With feet moving
forward'): "Marchal even suggested that investigators... and
journalists who are not convinced of Nihoul's guilt might have
allowed themselves to be bribed. "There's been a barbecue to
which the lawyers of Nihoul have invited journalists. And maybe
there were even more meetings and agreements we know nothing
about." Jean Lambrecks and his lawyers were to take this
accusation personally. They would have let themselves be
deceived by the "lies of Nihoul". "I saw myself how the lawyers
of Nihoul went to congratulate them after their plea... I don't
understand I they can support one of the defendants... And if I
understand them all right, everyone did his job just fine.
Except prosecutor Bourlet, because that's the one they
criticize. But it's that man in particular I want to thank for
not having quit after freeing Sabine and Laetitia, because he
also found back our kids." June 23, 2001, Vrij Nederland,
'Paul Marchal: 'I want to know every minute An has spent there':
"It is a recent interview from Het Volk with the mother of
Eefje. "I forgive Dutroux", it is titled. A perplexed Marchal
shakes his head. 'I just don't understand that. We look at it so
fundamentally different. At the time of the disappearances dad
Lambrecks and I had agreed that he would hire a private
detective. Money was available for that. Because I never heard
anything I contacted the detective myself after two months.
Turned out he had never been approached. These are the things I
just don't understand. For every step I made, he stepped back.'" |
Eefje Lambrecks |
August 22, 1995
|
19 years old when she was kidnapped by Dutroux and Lelièvre.
Assumed to have been killed in September 1995. Dutroux deposited
10,000 euros in one of his bank accounts in September 1995,
possibly a payments for having kidnapped An and Eefje. Found
dead on September 3, 1996. The parents of Eefje have never
wanted to hear about a cover up. |
Sabine Dardenne
|
May 28, 1996
|
12 years old when she was kidnapped by Dutroux and Lelièvre.
Dutroux deposited 3200 euros in total in one of his bank
accounts starting on May 31, 1996. Dutroux made numerous
pictures of her, but these were never found in any of his
houses. Rescued on August 15, 1996. Because she never saw anyone
but Dutroux, Sabine does not believe there's a network
surrounding him. |
Laetitia Delhez
|
August 9, 1996
|
14 years when she was kidnapped by Dutroux and Lelièvre.
Michel Nihoul had been seen by at least 8 witnesses with and
without Dutroux on August 8 at and around the location where
Laetitia would be kidnapped the next day. During her stay in the
home of Dutroux Laetitia heard two names: "Jean-Michel" and
"Michel". Rescued on August 15, 1996. Does believe there was a
network surrounding Dutroux. |
|