Symbolic facelift for Dutroux horror house

30 August 2004

BRUSSELS – The house where Belgian child murderer Marc Dutroux imprisoned and tortured young schoolgirls has been turned into a memorial for his victims.

On Sunday a large screen in front of the house depicting a child flying a kite against a clear blue sky was officially inaugurated.

The phrase “hope and purity” is also written on the screen.

The deputy mayor of Marcinelle, near Charleroi, where the Dutroux house stands said on Sunday that erecting the screen was technically illegal, as the property does not belong to the municipal authorities.

But he told Belgian television that on this occasion he was he was not concerned about legal issues.

“Morally I am a happy man,” he said.

In 1996 Dutroux kidnapped 12 year old Sabine Dardenne and Laetitia Delhez, 14, and held them captive in the red-brick Marcinelle house subjecting them to repeated rapes.

The girls were freed after Dutroux was arrested and led police to them.

In 1995 two other Dutroux kidnap victims, eight year olds Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, died of starvation at the house while Dutroux was serving a jail sentence for car theft.

Meanwhile, Belgian broadcaster RTBF has reported that a separate memorial to Dutroux’s victims will be created at the spot where the murderer buried the bodies of 17 year old An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks, 19.

Subject: Belgian news