"Van Themsche showed no emotion"

2 October 2007

ANTWERP – The investigating magistrate questioned in the trial of Hans Van Themsche on Tuesday says he has never met a more cold-blooded murderer than the defendant.

Van Themsche shot and killed a 2-year-old and her African nanny and seriously injured a Turkish woman on 11 May 2006.

“He showed no emotion whatsoever,” the magistrate says of the talks he had with the gunman a day after the shooting.

The investigating magistrate had visited the scene of the crime on 11 May and been shocked by what he saw. “I have been in this line of work for 21 years, and have served as an investigating magistrate for nine, but I have never seen anything as terrible as on that day.”

While Van Themsche remained calm during the hearings, the investigating magistrate clearly had difficulty talking about the case.

The investigating magistrate told the court: “I was shocked when he said why he had shot Luna Drowart. The girl had started to cry after he had shot her babysitter. It reminded him of a documentary on young elephants whose mother had been shot and who were traumatised by the event. That is why he shot her too.”

During the trial the farewell letter Van Themsche had written to his parents was read aloud. After the shooting the letter was found in his room at the boarding school from which he had recently been expelled. The defendant had written in the letter that he wanted to die.

The 12 member jury was also shown the first photos and video footage from soon after the shooting. The bodies of murdered Malian nanny Oulematou Niangadou and Luna Drowart were shown. Oulematou’s family left the courtroom crying.

Subject: Belgian news

“Van Themsche showed no emotion”