Mother arrested two years after Hoogeveen girl's fatal fall

A 37-year-old woman was arrested on Monday in connection with her daughter's death in 2015, the Public Prosecutor announced on Tuesday. 8-year-old Sharleyne Remouchamps fell to her death from the 10th floor of an apartment building in Hoogeveen in June 2015. Her mother is now suspected of murder or manslaughter, the Public Prosecutor announced.

The initial conclusion of the investigation in 2015 was that the girl's death was accidental. But her father did not believe this and successfully filed an article 12 procedure to force the Public Prosecutor to investigate further. According to the Prosecutor, new indications, including a new forensic report, led to the mother's arrest on Monday. She will be questioned and arraigned later this week.

Father Victor Remouchamps is relieved that Sharleyne's mother was finally arrested, his lawyer Sebas Diekstra said to AD. "It is good to know the Public Prosecutor is now following through. A suspect of such a serious crime should not be allowed to await trial in freedom", the lawyer said.

According to Diekstra, Sharleyne's parents divorced in 2011 and after that the girl went to live with her alcohol addicted mother. Youth and family agencies received several reports that Sharleyne was not doing well, starting in 2012. When the mother started a new relationship, several reports of domestic violence were received. Sharleyne regularly stayed in the unhygienic home of an alcoholic drug dealer, where dogs were left to do their business on the floor, according the lawyer. "If you read this file, tears fill your eyes", Diekstra said. "It is inexplicable why the authorities did not intervene."