Fatal kidnapping: Mother’s attorney critical of soft Dutch prison sentences

The attorney representing the mother of Dean Verberckmoes wants her son’s suspected kidnapper and killer to be tried in Belgium, not the Netherlands. The Belgian child was taken by 34-year-old Belgian Dave De K., who was supposed to babysit the child with his Dutch girlfriend, R.W. She was also arrested in Belgium, according to media outlets there.

"My preference is clearly for Belgium," said Elke Verberckmoes’s lawyer, Jef Vermassen, in an interview in the Flemish newspaper De Morgen. "The penalties in the Netherlands, I'm sorry, are no big deal."

The lawyer wants the suspect to face a trial by jury at a court of assizes, where some of the most serious crimes in Belgium are heard. "I had a previous case involving a girl in Turnhout who was kidnapped and taken to the Netherlands, where she was raped and abused for one night," he said to De Morgen.

"She survived, but was left severely traumatized. The perpetrators were given ten and fifteen years in the Netherlands. That is not serious."

Verberckmoes dropped off Dean with De K. and R.W. last Wednesday in Sint-Nicklaas. She receives treatment for clinical depression as an inpatient at a hospital there. De K. and his partner live in Sint-Gillis-Waas. The two towns are close to each other, near the border with Zeeland, as is the Verberckmoes home in Beveren.

The couple frequently took care of Dean once per week. This time, they were supposed to bring Dean to his grandmother’s house after one night, but they refused, keeping Dean a second night. Then on Friday, R.W. told Dean’s mother she had a fight with De K., and when she threw him out of the house, he took Dean with him. She reported the child missing over the weekend.

De K. fled to the Netherlands, and was arrested in Meerkerk on Monday. He led Dutch police to Dean’s body, which was found between boulders off a remote parking lot on Neeltje Jans in Zeeland.

The Belgian suspect was previously convicted in 2008 and sentenced to ten years in prison for beating his 2-year-old stepson, which resulted in that child’s death. He served his sentence at three correctional facilities, including several years at a prison in Tilburg. Officials at the Dutch prison tried in vain to convince the Belgian judiciary to send him to a psychiatric institution. tried in vain to convince the Belgian judiciary to send him to a psychiatric institution.

"It may still be a bit delicate now, but the first question that will be raised is that of the psychiatric reports," Vermassen said to De Morgen. "What have the experts concluded after this man's previous conviction? Has their advice been followed?"

Vermassen was appointed as Elke Vermassen’s lawyer on Tuesday at the request of the mother. The criminal lawyer is known in Flanders for defending suspects and victims in major murder cases.

On Tuesday, Dutch authorities said they were holding Dave De K. On suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty, and involvement in the death of the 4-year-old boy. His girlfriend was also arrested, according to news agency Belga. It is not clear what crime she is suspected of committing, but other media outlets in Belgium said she did not fully cooperate with the police investigation into Dean’s disappearance out of concern De K. would be sent back to prison.

The investigation in the case is also focusing on a house in Koudekerke in Zeeland. It is an address that the suspect visited. The resident was interviewed by the police, but is not suspected of committing a crime.

Both a Dutch and a Belgian police team are investigating the kidnapping and death of the Belgian boy. Police in the Netherlands formed a major crimes investigative team made up of twenty police officers and detectives. The investigation is to determine what the suspect did in the Netherlands, where he has been with the boy, and where they may have stayed. An autopsy was also to be performed this week.

Belgian investigators are also continuing the investigation. Police assume the body found Monday on Neeltje Jans is that of the missing boy, but investigators have yet to pronounce a final determination.

Dutch authorities became involved in the case on Monday afternoon, and said they believed De K. and Dean were in the south of the Netherlands. The man's car, a gray Peugeot, was found at a company in Gorinchem, Zuid-Holland. He was arrested alone in Meerkerk after a witness reported a suspicious situation to the police.

Police then issued an Amber Alert for the missing boy. The system suffered from technical malfunctions, and was not sent automatically, but it still reached news media outlets, social media platforms and public video screens such as those at Schiphol and NS train stations. Distribution of the Amber Alert was stopped when the missing boy was found dead.

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