Police continue search for two girls

24 July 2007

The police continue searching for the two missing girls, Océane (2) and her sister Manon (4), who disappeared a few days ago from Liege.

The two girls lived alternately with their mother or their grand mother in Liege. The girls’ mother recently lost the guardianship of her two daughters due to poor hygienic conditions both at their mother’s as well as their grandmother’s home.

On 17 July the mother of the two girls went to visit the grandmother and took the two girls with her. She reportedly took the children to their adoptive father in Andenne. Since then there has been no trace of the girls.

The adoptive father, Albert Venken, who was detained on Saturday in connection with the kidnapping of the two children, claims that the children are in France accompanied by the suspect’s girlfriend. The man has refused to indicate where exactly the children are. Meanwhile, the 68-year-old Venken has been imprisoned in Lantin. He could face a five-year prison sentence. He reportedly has already been convicted for sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, a request for information regarding the whereabouts of the girls has been issued but the public prosecution department in Liege does not have photographs of the girls as the grandmother or other relatives who could provide such pictures cannot be traced.

Subject: Belgian news