Kim de Gelder

Case record: Kim de Gelder

Background

Kim de Gelder was a Belgian aged 20 from Sinaai. He was described as a silent boy by friends and colleagues.

De Gelder told his attorney that he had been troubled by depression as a teenager and that he had at one point heard voices in his head. A psychiatrist concluded that he did not need to be sent to a mental institution.

Investigators and De Gelder’s lawyer made statements dismissing suggestions about his motive in the attack.

A jury later found De Gelder fully accountable for the attack and held him guilty of four counts of murder.

The offence

The Dendermonde nursery attack was a stabbing attack on the Fabeltjesland daycare centre in the village of Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde in Dendermonde, Belgium, at 10:00 a.m. CET (9:00 a.m. UTC) on 23 January 2009.

Three people were stabbed to death. Twelve were mutilated in the attack.

Kim De Gelder entered the Fabeltjesland nursery, located in Sint-Gillis-bij-Dendermonde in Dendermonde, Belgium, through an unlocked side door, claiming he had a question. He entered one of the rooms and began attacking small children before moving up some stairs and continuing in another room.

He was reported to be wearing black and white makeup with his hair vividly coloured in red, similar to that of The Joker. De Gelder’s attorney, Jaak Haentjens, later formally denied any link to “the Joker”, attributing the claims of face paint to De Gelder’s pale skin.

At the time of the attack, a total of eighteen infants under the age of three and six adults were in the nursery. Two infants and one adult were killed. Six children between one and three years old were seriously injured. Another four suffered minor injuries and nine escaped unscathed.

Victims named were:

• Leon Garcia-Mannaert, a nine-month-old boy
• Corneel Vermeir, a nine-month-old boy
• Marita Blindeman, a 54-year-old child minder

Initial reports on Belgian television suggested that five people had been killed and twenty had been injured, with government officials only confirming the death of one adult and one child. This number was later increased as another infant died from the injuries he sustained. Some surviving children were reported as having needed plastic surgery due to serious mutilations.

De Gelder left the scene on his bike.

Additional alleged offence

Belgian officials named Kim De Gelder as the lead suspect in a further, fourth murder. A 73-year-old woman was stabbed to death in her apartment in Beveren, near Antwerp, on 16 January.

Prosecutor Christian Du Four told journalists that there were “very clear indications of links between the murders”. De Gelder denied any involvement.

Police also stated that De Gelder was planning attacks on other nurseries.

Investigation

After the attack, a massive search operation was mounted.

Police reported that De Gelder was carrying a list of nurseries and that they suspected he may have been planning to attack others as well.

Arrest and capture

A man was captured by police a short while later in the nearby town of Lebbeke.

Having been wounded during capture, the man was taken to a hospital in Aalst, Belgium.

Police reported he was carrying a knife, a small axe, a fake pistol and was wearing body armour. Two more knives were found at the scene. He fought back against policemen who detained him, injuring himself and two officers.

He was later identified as Kim De Gelder on 25 January 2009.

Trial

On 27 January, De Gelder admitted to the attacks.

In court, the focus included whether he suffered from a mental disease.

On March 22, 2013, a jury declared De Gelder fully accountable for the attack and found him guilty of four counts of murder.

Sentencing

He was sentenced to life imprisonment the following day, on March 23, 2013.

Appeals

No appeal outcome was stated.

Outcome

De Gelder was sentenced to life imprisonment on March 23, 2013.

Aftermath

On 25 January 2009, 6,000 people marched through Dendermonde, laying hundreds of bouquets and stuffed animals outside the daycare centre. The mayor of Dendermonde, Piet Buyse, announced that the Fabeltjesland nursery would never reopen.

The mayor of Dendermonde, Piet Buyse, said: “The victims are being cared for and those who were not injured have been brought to a centre where they are receiving counseling.”

At a press conference on the evening of the attack, public prosecutor Christian Du Four provided information about the alleged offender, denying early rumours: “He is a 20-year-old Belgian and was not under the influence of drugs or alcoholic beverages. He acts strangely and mocks his interrogators. He is not a patient of a psychiatric institution. He has so far given five different identities”

Italian singer Luciano Ligabue dedicated a song to the victims, Quando mi vieni a prendere? (Dendermonde 23/01/09), inserted in his 2010 album Arrivederci, Mostro!.

The trial was held in Ghent, near Dendermonde and some 50km (30 miles) west of Brussels.

The jurors were left in “not the least bit of doubt” that De Gelder could be held accountable for his actions, said the court in a statement.

Other details

Multiple contemporaneous statements attributed details about access, weapons, and motive as follows.

Local prosecutor Christian Du Four described the attack sequence: “He quickly pulled out a knife and started using it on the children,” “He then went up to another floor and started doing the same thing again.”

Dendermonde’s chief of police, Paul Puttemans, said the attacker:

• arrived at the creche on a bicycle
• was wearing a bullet-proof vest
• was believed to be carrying several knives and possibly other weapons

An emergency hospital coordinator, Surgeon Ignace Demeyer, said: “The truth is that stabbing children is very easy, especially when they are very small, and some of these would have been sleeping”

Demeyer also said: “We have 10 children, what I would call toddlers, in hospital being treated for wounds. They will all survive, as well as two adults working at the centre.”

He added: “But they will be physically scarred,” “For those who survived, this was horribly traumatic and they are already being put into post-traumatic stress programmes.”

Mayor Piet Buys said: ‘The killing zone has been cordoned off and the victims are being attended to. ‘Those who were not injured have been brought to a central crisis centre for care and counselling. ‘They are in deep shock and need help. We are devastated by this. We do not know who the perpetrator is or his motives.’

Belgium’s interior minister, Zaken Guido De Padt, promised a review of security in kindergartens across the country and said: ‘We must ask how this assailant was able to gain access to the premises to commit this terrible crime,'

There was also reporting that De Gelder was remanded into custody after appearing before court, and that he remained aloof and emotionless during a short session. His lawyer, Jaak Haentjens, said: “I think that he feels regret. That's what he says, but it would be going too far to say that he repents,”

Haentjens also said: “It was a constructive discussion, about his life, but also the incident. The reason why he chose babies in a creche as his victims remains a mystery. I want to know why he did that. He too, he is ready to help in that sense,”

Haentjens said: “When he was 15-16, he had an, apparently serious, depression,” “At 18, he was considered for 'a forced entry into psychiatry which, for reasons unclear, did not happen'.”

Haentjens said: “We have to accept that, in our society, there can be people who can do things, driven by voices, forces, which they do not realize and which they cannot control,”

On motive, prosecutor Christian Du Four said: “We don't know about his motive. He doesn't say anything... he's very passive,”

Daycare staff described the attacker’s initial entry: “About 18 children, some just babes in arms, were at the creche when, police say, a man knocked on the door and was let in.” “The attacker apparently tricked his way into the nursery, then ran amok stabbing children and staff before escaping by bicycle.”

Police reported that De Gelder muttered: “I have a question,”

A hospital director, Dr Ignace Demeyer, said: “All the kids had multiple stab wounds on their legs, arms and all over their bodies,”

Theo Janssens, a senior member of Dendermonde’s department of social services, said: “There was blood everywhere and of course there was panic,” “The two who were killed were just babies. One was already dead when I got there and the other was in a very bad way. “One of the adult staff was also already dead”.

During investigation and reporting, there was discussion about rumours of face paint and about possible connections to other nurseries. Police have not confirmed reported depictions beyond their statements about carrying a list of nurseries and planning further attacks.