Good chance that suspect in boy's sexual abuse, killing will strike again if untreated

There is a good chance that Donny M., the man who confessed to abducting, sexually abusing, and killing 9-year-old Gino van der Straeten from Limburg, will attack another child if left untreated. That is the conclusion of experts from the Pieter Baan Center (PBC). They diagnosed M. with several disorders, including a personality disorder, which was revealed during a non-substantive hearing in the court in Maastricht on Wednesday.

According to the experts, the man has reduced accountability for Gino’s killing. But he can be held fully accountable for abducting Gino. He is slightly less responsible for sexually abusing and drugging the child. The experts also diagnosed M. with a drug use disorder and a pedophile disorder.

Donny M.’s lawyer wants a further investigation into what influence a lengthy prison sentence will have on her client’s treatment and the success thereof. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) hinted that the case requires a long sentence. The court “deemed it important’ that the questions regarding M.’s treatment be submitted to the PBC and therefore granted the request for further investigation.

Gino disappeared on 1 June 2022 while playing outside in Kerkrade. Police officers and hundreds of volunteers searched for the boy. M. was arrested at his home in Geleen on June 4. The police found the child’s body a short time later.

There are still many questions about the forensic evidence, or lack thereof, in Gino’s abduction, sexual abuse, and killing. The OM is having further investigations carried out into the garbage bags used to dum Gino’s body and his clothing. The question is in what order the bags came off the roll because that says something about the traces found on them. For example, the police found fingerprints that don’t belong to Gino, M., or M.’s ex-girlfriend. According to the OM, that does not mean a second person was involved in dumping the boy. “But this is not a matter for loose ends.”

It was also revealed on Wednesday that the police had already detained M. on June 3, a day before his arrest in the Gino case, because he was driving around uninsured. An observation team was already watching M. due to suspected involvement in Gino’s disappearance. A look at his home revealed that the child was no longer there. Gino had already been killed by then.

M.’s ex-girlfriend has received serious threats and reported them to the police, was also revealed on Wednesday. The woman went into hiding after M.’s arrest and had to change her telephone number. She was approached physically and digitally, “and those were not pleasant conversations,” M.’s lawyer Janneke de Crom said.

“She has lost her life since the start of this case,” said De Crom. The lawyer, therefore, opposed the disclosure of the criminal file to Gino’s next of kin. De Crom fought against the family getting the parts of the file that revolves around the ex-girlfriend’s testimony and the Pieter Baan Center report.

De Crom said the defense wants to prevent pieces from ending up on the street. At most, if there is no other option, the defense wants the documents to go exclusively to the family’s council, with the relatives not having access to them. The ex-girlfriend worries that her statements in the court documents will harm her even more, the lawyer said.

M. confessed to taking Gino to his home, giving him drugs, and sexually assaulting him. An autopsy showed that Gino was also strangled and choked. M. is also suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography and sexually abusing a mentally disabled person in 2019.

He was previously convicted of assaulting and threatening two children and sexually abusing at least one of them. M. was also sentenced for attempted manslaughter after he threw a paving stone off an overpass.

The next hearing in the case will happen on August 2. That will be another non-substantive hearing. There is no sight yet of a date for the trial, but the court said it likely wouldn’t happen this year.