Retired teacher (74) who killed wife Monika (74) referred to Assisen: « That he should go back to prison is hard for him » (Jabbeke)
Monika was beaten to death in her home in Zerkegem with a hammer. – © Het Nieuwsblad
The 74-year-old Noël D. has been referred to the Court of Assisen by the Ghent Chamber of Accusation (KI). The retired teacher killed his wife Monika at home in Zerkegem in April last year. D. has been free since the end of February under electric supervision, but must now possibly go back to the cell pending his assize process.
Yesterday at 4:31 PM
They often went for a walk in the neighborhood and also did volunteer work in a retirement home. The former teacher enjoyed a well-deserved pension with his wife Monika. For fifty years, the seventies have shared Lief en Leed in Zerkegem, part of Jabbeke. A life without each other seemed unthinkable. A carefree pension turned out to be a utopia in the last few months, when Noël D. mentally sank deeper and deeper. Cups about the sale of the former clothing store of Monika and a depression made Noël D. increasingly stayed indoors. And so also his wife, forced.
Noël D. was a man of his word and was always stuff ready when his caregiver came to pick him up at home. When that was not the case on Friday 12 April last year, the care provider in question immediately decided to notify the emergency services. A few agents could enter the house via the back of the house. It was not long for the agents to find the lifeless body of Monika in the seat. The woman was collapsed, with a clear head wound. Her husband was sleeping upstairs and was taken for interrogation, but was allowed to have again a little later. The police classified it as a natural death.
Reconstruction
A week later there turned out to be more going on. According to the public prosecutor, the victim was « killed in a violent way ». In addition to the head wound, blood was also found in the home. Initially, a fall after a brain haemorrhage was taken into account, because the woman has been experiencing a thrombosis several times. But the autopsy later turned out to be more going on. And then the question mainly came: was she beaten when she was in the seat?
Noël D. was very emotional during the racing last year. – © Simon Mouton
Noël D. – who temporarily lived with his sister – was arrested and interrogated again. There he confessed to having beaten his wife with a hammer. D. flew in the cell and was allowed to leave the prison once for the reconstruction. An emotional rollercoaster. The house where they shared joys and sorrows for years was suddenly a crime scene.
Possibly back to cell
The Ghent Chamber of Indictment decided on Friday that D. will be officially referred to the West-Flemish Court of Assisen. Moreover, the man may have to go to the cell again. The Bruges Council Chamber decided at the end of February that the seventies could serve his custody under electronic supervision. « Given the medical condition of my client, it would be a shame if he had to go to prison again, » says lawyer Pieterjan Dens. « That news is very difficult for him. » The mental state of D. continues to deteriorate.
The Public Prosecution Service must now decide whether the seventies should also effectively go to prison again.
