Suspect says he wanted to "do something sexual" with 9 y.o. Gino the moment he saw him
Donny M. knew he wanted to “do something” to 9-year-old Gino van der Straeten the moment he saw him walking in Kerkrade on the evening of 1 June 2022, the 24-year-old man said in court on Monday, NOS reports. “It was like a switch had been flipped. My focus was only on him. I wanted to do something with him. Sexually.”
M. is on trial for abducting, drugging, sexually abusing, and killing the 9-year-old boy. Gino disappeared from a playground in Kerkrade that day. M. was arrested three days later and told the police where to find Gino’s body, wrapped in garbage bags and dumped behind a burned-out house near M.’s home in Geleen. M. confessed two years ago, but the investigation took a long time because the man’s story did not always match the trace evidence.
During the first hours of the trial today, the judge discussed the runup to Gino’s abduction with M. The man said that he was supposed to work on 1 June 2022, but instead took drugs and drove around in his car in Zuid-Limburg.
He spotted Gino in Kerkrade in the early evening and followed him to the playground, M. said. He spent some time playing football with Gino until the boy said he had to go home. “I told him I would take him home. Then I think he grabbed his scooter and we walked to my car.”
According to M., Gino started to panic when he didn’t stop at his sister’s home, where the boy was staying. M. told Gino to sit on the food of the passenger seat, so that he would not be visible. “But when he did not, I got angry.”
Gino cried and screamed. “I went completely crazy from all that screaming,” said M. Because of that, the man stopped at a swimming pool in Landgraaf, according to him, intending to leave Gino there. He took Gino’s scooter from the car and noticed a woman staring at him. M. said he was afraid Gino would tell her he had been kidnapped, so M. left the scooter and took the boy with him.
The prosecutor asked M. why he didn’t get Gino out of the car first if he wanted to get rid of the boy so badly. “I didn’t think like that,” M. said.
M.’s questioning will continue on Monday afternoon. The court booked four days for the trial. On Tuesday, M.’s personal circumstances will be discussed and victim statements will be presented. On Wednesday, the public prosecutors will explain their view of the case and demand a sentence. On Friday, M.’s lawyer will speak and the suspect will have the last word. The ruling is expected on November 27.
