Dave De K., the 34-year-old main suspect in the case surrounding the death of 4-year-old toddler Dean, will be prosecuted in Belgium. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service and Justice have announced this after consultation with Belgium. De K. was arrested in Meerkerk. Dean’s body was also found on Dutch territory, Monday evening at Neeltje Jans.
“Because both the victim, the relatives and the suspect have Belgian nationality, prosecution by the Belgians is most opportune. The Dutch part of the investigation will be continued and the results will be transferred to the Belgians. Further investigation is also being conducted in Belgium,” the OM says. The suspect will be arraigned on Thursday.
De K. was arrested in Meerkerk. Dean’s body was also found on Dutch territory, Monday evening at Neeltje Jans. The girlfriend of 34-year-old Dave De K. has also been arrested. This was done by the investigating judge in Dendermonde on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. Romy W. has the Dutch identity and comes from Sint Jansteen. She does, like De K., live in Belgium.
The woman was arrested Monday night during a search in Sint-Gillis-Waas, in the building where she lived with De K.. Victim Dean also stayed with the couple in the past. That was also the case last Wednesday, the intention was that he would spend the night there. When the child was away much longer, the mother and grandmother were given various excuses.
protect partner
Statements from Romy W. would show that she wanted to protect her partner. For example, she did not know what clothes De K. was wearing when he left. There was therefore nothing mentioned in the search message. It turned out that she did have that knowledge. In addition, her statement also deviated from what De K. said after his arrest. The charges of kidnapping and murder do not mean that there is hard evidence against the woman.
It often happens that the examining magistrate takes a more serious classification as murder and later downgrades it to, for example, manslaughter or complicity. De K. is suspected of unlawful detention and involvement in the death of Dean. Twenty police officers in the Netherlands are working on the investigation.
The investigation of the Dutch police officers focuses on what the suspect has done in the Netherlands. In doing so, the detectives try to reconstruct where they have been and possibly stayed. The results will be shared with the Belgian judiciary. The Belgian investigators are also continuing the investigation in Belgium, during which they also interrogate people.
‘He is disturbed’
The 34-year-old Dave De K. was already known to the police. He was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2010 for “inhumane treatment resulting in death” of the 2-year-old son of a former girlfriend. During the trial, court psychiatrists painted a not-so-pretty picture of the man. He was described as ‘a psychopath with a sadistic disposition’.
“He is disturbed,” the court said. “If he doesn’t like something, he reacts in a sadistic way. If he feels in a relationship that the other person contradicts him and is not docile, he will react by, for example, throwing a child down the stairs or placing him in a bath with cold water.”
Mayor Rob van der Zwaag of Veere laid flowers at the site today:
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