Belgian pedophile Marc Dutroux yesterday blamed his wife and three accomplices for abducting two eight-year-old girls whose brutally abused bodies were found buried in his garden in August, 1996.
Testifying at his rape-murder trial for the first time, Dutroux denied he had anything to do with the kidnappings in June, 1995, of Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo.
He blamed instead three people standing trial alongside him -- his wife, Michelle Martin, a drug-addict friend, Michel Lelievre, and convicted fraudster Michel Nihoul -- plus a murdered accomplice, Bernard Weinstein.
PHOTO: AP
Dutroux said that he stumbled upon the two girls in his home at Marcinelle, southern Belgium, in the company of the four people in July, 1995, some weeks after they were abducted from the eastern city of Liege.
He said he saw Weinstein sexually abusing one of the girls.
"I was angry," he told presiding judge Stephane Goux. But according to Dutroux, Weinstein told him: "This is nothing compared to what will happen to them when they end up with Nihoul and company."
Dutroux added: "My wife explained to me that it was better to hang on to them for a few days."
This explained, according to the convicted child rapist, why he built a secret cellar in the Marcinelle house, near the southern town of Charleroi, to confine the two girls.
Police rescued two girls, aged 12 and 14, from the cellar in August, 1996. They then unearthed the bodies of Julie, Melissa and two young women, 17 and 19 years old, from the gardens of other properties belonging to Dutroux.
Julie and Melissa had starved to death after being raped and beaten, autopsy reports showed.
Dutroux also claimed two policemen took part in the August, 1995 kidnapping of the two teens, An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks.
He said their abduction was carried out by himself, a drug-addict friend who is also on trial, and two other men.
"I later found out they were members of the police force," he told the court, without identifying them.
He said one of the officers and his heroin-addict accomplice, Michel Lelievre, had raped one of the young women after they were kidnapped while on holiday near the Belgian coastal town of Ostende.
Dutroux admitted himself raping Eefje.
But he again denied murdering the two young women, who according to autopsy reports were likely drugged unconscious and then buried alive.
He said he had left An and Eefje with Lelievre and Weinstein, whom Dutroux has admitted murdering.
The two accomplices planned to force the women into prostitution, according to Dutroux.
"I never thought that they were going to kill them," he told the court.
"I find it a great shame that these girls died. It's a disaster," he said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS