Infants stabbed at Belgian creche

Wreck · 23-01-2009 03:17PM #1

So we've seen some disturbing news stories over the last while, the following has totally shocked me. I can't understand what would cause someone to do something like this.

BBC News wrote:

Two infants and an adult have been killed and 10 other people wounded in a knife attack at a creche in north-western Belgium.

A man reportedly tricked his way into the nursery in Dendermonde where he ran amok inside before escaping. He was later captured at a local supermarket.

The suspect apparently had painted his face black and white.

Parents have begun the harrowing task of identifying children stabbed during the attack at local hospitals.

Three children are reported to be in a serious condition in hospital.

One of those who died is believed to be a nursery employee and Dendermonde's deputy mayor, Theo Janssens, said several adults had been injured as they tried to put themselves between the attacker and the children.

"The guy just went crazy," Mr Janssens said. "There was blood everywhere, it was unbelievable, real carnage."

The creche has been evacuated and local authorities have put a disaster plan in place.

Town 'in shock'

Nursery staff told journalists that the attacker, believed to be in his thirties, was not known to them.

Officials said he had rung the doorbell at the Fabeltjesland (English: Storyland) nursery at 1000 local time (0900 GMT) and told staff he needed some information.

When they opened the door, he ran in and began attacking three of the infants.

"He quickly pulled out a knife and started using it on the children," said local prosecutor Christian Du Four.

"He then went up to another floor and started doing the same thing again."

The prosecutor said the man's face had been smeared with a white colouring but his eyes had been blackened.

He escaped from the scene by bicycle but was arrested at a supermarket

Residents told the BBC that the town was stunned.

Damien Vernon, a 43-year-old from Ireland who has lived in Dendermonde for five years, said: "It's just a sad day here, we're a small town and the crime figures are low here, we're just in shock."

Photographs

The creche looks after 18 children under the age of three.

Police have been showing parents digital photographs of the youngsters taken to hospital, asking them to identify their children.

Interior Minister Guido De Padt told a press conference he was "horrified by the events".

"Our thoughts go out to the families and staff of the creche," he said. "Many parents are in a state of shock."

The children and staff from the nursery who escaped without injury are now receiving counselling.

Flemish TV station VTM had initially reported three children and two adults had died but the interior ministry later gave the lower casualty figures.

Link

In before the lol pedo bear jokes.

Dudess · 23-01-2009 03:19PM

And the "I never thought the Belgians would do something like that" and "I've always thought Belgians were fairly weird" type comments...

Rob_l · 23-01-2009 03:20PM

Because AH is AH I doubt this is the right place for this story but then what the hell do I know.

JJJJNR · 23-01-2009 03:24PM

RIP little angels.. Thoughts are with the families.

Danbo! · 23-01-2009 03:26PM

I never thought the Belgians would do something like that, but having said that, I've always thought Belgians were fairly weird.

sdanseo · 23-01-2009 03:27PM

Another topic where the replies may be best kept non-humorous. Lolocaust for that crap.

RIP.

Wagon · 23-01-2009 03:34PM

Cool, another depressing story of child abuse

And more replies of "hope the bastard gets his balls cut off" and "life in prison" then somebody says "death penalty" and everyone starts screaming through their keyboards about how they're all sick and lack intellegence and the thread gets locked 21 pages in after 3 seperate bannings for personal abuse.

Or maybe im just a bitter old **** who doesn't want to hear these things anymore. This crime is just horribly bizarre.

Mingey · 23-01-2009 03:37PM

I didn't think Belgians could be so evil.

Awful story. Nice way to kick off the weekend.

Turd Ferguson · 23-01-2009 03:38PM

That is pretty horrible

Collie D · 23-01-2009 03:43PM

Was actually only watching an episode of Law and Order a couple of weeks ago where a guy burst into a classroom and shot a load of five-year-olds and thought "That could never happen". The world is a f*cked up place.:mad:

Mingey · 23-01-2009 03:48PM

Reminds me of this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400570.stm

There are a few sick fckrs out there who like to pray on the most vulnerable and trusting.

MagicMarker · 23-01-2009 03:50PM

I blame chocolate. They just can't get enough of it.

Sir Gallagher · 23-01-2009 03:56PM

Jesus thats fuc'king sickening.

Alun · 23-01-2009 04:20PM

noblestee wrote: »

I never thought the Belgians would do something like that, ...

Some peoples memories are short ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux

whiskeyman · 23-01-2009 04:27PM

Mingey wrote: »

Reminds me of this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400570.stm

There are a few sick fckrs out there who like to pray on the most vulnerable and trusting.

reminded me more of this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/8/newsid_2496000/2496685.stm

although a hero prevented loss of life that day.

Soby · 23-01-2009 04:30PM

From the way i read that he "tricked" his way in i.e tricked a person..Who in their right mind would let a person into a Creche with their face painted black and white:mad:

Trinity · 23-01-2009 05:45PM

Just heard this now.

What possible fcuking motive could someone have to do this?

Fcuking sick bastard.

RIP little angels.

mike65 · 23-01-2009 06:03PM

Belgians are a true mystery - while Flems and Waloons might not look too kindly on each other they reckon that collectively they are a very civilised peoples and yet so many truely fecked-up things happen there (often involving people in or closely connected to power)

RandolphEsq · 23-01-2009 06:06PM

A psychiatric patient apparently. What he had in his head to do something so disgusting is anyone's stab in the dark

Biggins · 23-01-2009 06:11PM

Just home and heard about it. Terrible. My heart goes out to those now suffering.

RIP beautiful little ones - ye deserved better - sorry you didn't gain it.

23-01-2009 06:12PM

Soby wrote: »

From the way i read that he "tricked" his way in i.e tricked a person..Who in their right mind would let a person into a Creche with their face painted black and white:mad:

Might help if you'd bothered to read the story.

Guy:Incognito · 23-01-2009 06:18PM

noblestee wrote: »

I never thought the Belgians would do something like that,.

Like the Austrians really , there was never an evil one before that Fritzel bloke........

winston82 · 23-01-2009 06:25PM

MagicMarker wrote: »

I blame chocolate. They just can't get enough of it.

eh, i dont think jokes & humour are appropiate to this story. Are there not other threads in Ah to make jokes in? Bad form buddy

sdanseo · 23-01-2009 06:42PM

BrightEyes wrote: »

A psychiatric patient apparently. What he had in his head to do something so disgusting is anyone's stab in the dark

If that was intentional, way out of line. If not, sorry for bringing it up.

javaboy · 23-01-2009 06:47PM

sdonn_1 wrote: »

If that was intentional, way out of line. If not, sorry for bringing it up.

Very odd phrasing to say the least.

sdanseo · 23-01-2009 07:29PM

javaboy wrote: »

Very odd phrasing to say the least.

Me or him?

javaboy · 23-01-2009 07:31PM

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Me or him?

Him.

twinytwo · 23-01-2009 08:09PM

What and see the muppet who did it will prob get off on an insanity plea or someother load of bollacks.. if there was any real justice in the world he would be put against a wall and shot

.boards.ie · 23-01-2009 08:26PM

RIP wee angles. You didn't have to suffer life.

mwnger · 23-01-2009 08:35PM

What a truly horrifying story.

One of the stranger elements is that the guy had smeared his face with white paint and blacked up his eyes. I wonder if this was a Joker copycat? It might be another Clockwork Orange-like situation.

MagicMarker · 23-01-2009 08:46PM

winston82 wrote: »

eh, i dont think jokes & humour are appropiate to this story. Are there not other threads in Ah to make jokes in? Bad form buddy

boo hiss boo

Excuse me, I'm off to start a thread about the AIDS epidemic for people to make jokes in instead, because of course that's ok! :rolleyes:

DublinWriter · 23-01-2009 08:50PM

noblestee wrote: »

I never thought the Belgians would do something like that, but having said that, I've always thought Belgians were fairly weird.

Haven't you ever heard of Marc Dutroux?

Having lived in Belgium for a number of years, I'd say that they are the closest to the Irish in terms of their outlook on life, minus the stunt-drinking of course.

Those poor kids.

jinxycat · 23-01-2009 10:56PM

i heard about this while in work this afternoon by a parent. i work in a creche myself and still can't believe that they got into the building to be able to do that to them poor little children.
may they rest in peace.

meathstevie · 23-01-2009 11:32PM

It all happened about 3 mile away from my native town. The police actually arrested the rabid bastard in a supermarket carpark in my hometown. The creche is only a couple of hundred yards away from where my sister lives. She's actually worked in it for a while on work experience a couple of years ago. The facility is owned and operated by the local OCWM which is a bit like the municipality Social Welfare. In general the local town council and OCMW in Dendermonde run a very thight and above board ship so how the guy got in is a bit of a question to say the least. It's a modern purpose built building as far as I know so the only way I can imagine he got in is through some sort of a reception-"drop off" area that's segregated from the "operational" area of the creche.

Latest word is that all wounded who required emergency surgery are no longer critical.

Saibh · 23-01-2009 11:41PM

meathstevie wrote: »

Latest word is that all wounded who required emergency surgery are no longer critical.

That is good to hear.

noel farrell · 24-01-2009 12:03AM

very sick man

S.L.F · 24-01-2009 01:12AM

Who in their right mind would do something like that?

Those poor kids

Ann22 · 24-01-2009 01:22AM

This reminds me of Dunblane. I can't comprehend the absolute horror of how i'd feel if i was one of the unfortunate parents. How anyone could do such a thing to little innocent precious babies is beyond me.

lostexpectation · 24-01-2009 04:51AM

that place did look like it had a couple of doors to get through al what meathstevie said , but what would the security at your average creche be?

spinandscribble · 24-01-2009 05:27AM

Mingey wrote: »

Reminds me of this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400570.stm

There are a few sick fckrs out there who like to pray on the most vulnerable and trusting.

i live roughly 20 mins from there. senseless, its all so senseless.

smellslikeshoes · 24-01-2009 05:59AM

Some very crazy people in this world.

May the victims rest in piece.

meathstevie · 24-01-2009 10:46AM

Got some bad news from my sister this morning...One of the toddlers who died is the child of one of my old football buddies.

BurnsCarpenter · 24-01-2009 11:05AM

MagicMarker wrote: »

boo hiss boo

Excuse me, I'm off to start a thread about the AIDS epidemic for people to make jokes in instead, because of course that's ok! :rolleyes:

Might have been excusable if it was remotely funny.

mirwillbeback · 24-01-2009 11:32AM

meathstevie wrote: »

Got some bad news from my sister this morning...One of the toddlers who died is the child of one of my old football buddies.

Very sorry to hear that mate. ****, it's a sad sad world.:(

irish_bob · 24-01-2009 10:41PM

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Some very crazy people in this world.

May the victims rest in piece.

there are but unfortunatley theese kind of nutters have plenty of rights in todays wooly liberal world , years ago , nutters were locked up before things like this happned , nowadays you litterally have to kill someone to be locked up against your will , this guy most likely did a certain amount of time for some other indisgression but got out because some liberal civil rights attorney launched an appeal on his behalf

thier was a guy in kildare killed his nephew about 6 yrs ago , remember the brendan o donnell case , guy who killed a mother and child and a priest , guy who murdered all three grew up not far from where one of my uncles lives , he was notorious in the area and a ticking time bomb but as i said , in todays liberal world gone made , psychos cant be touched untill they actually harm someone , i realise long ago people were often put in the big house for simply being an embarrasment to their family but the pendelum has completley swung the other way

NewFrockTuesday · 24-01-2009 11:31PM

From the way i read that he "tricked" his way in i.e tricked a person..Who in their right mind would let a person into a Creche with their face painted black and white
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Jesus Juice · 24-01-2009 11:43PM

I Actually felt physically sick when i seen it on the News..

24-01-2009 11:46PM

Who in their right mind would do something like that?

Well, I'd guess that he most likely WASN'T in his right mind. Very sad story but these things can happen anywhere at any time, remember the Dunblane massacre?

Pigman III · 25-01-2009 12:14AM

I always thought Belgium was a boring country... I guess I was wrong.

Latchy · 25-01-2009 12:31AM

Absolutly horrific events in Belgium.Hard to comprehend it's so horrible .

sam34 · 25-01-2009 07:18PM

irish_bob wrote: »

there are but unfortunatley theese kind of nutters have plenty of rights in todays wooly liberal world , years ago , nutters were locked up before things like this happned , nowadays you litterally have to kill someone to be locked up against your will , this guy most likely did a certain amount of time for some other indisgression but got out because some liberal civil rights attorney launched an appeal on his behalf

thier was a guy in kildare killed his nephew about 6 yrs ago , remember the brendan o donnell case , guy who killed a mother and child and a priest , guy who murdered all three grew up not far from where one of my uncles lives , he was notorious in the area and a ticking time bomb but as i said , in todays liberal world gone made , psychos cant be touched untill they actually harm someone , i realise long ago people were often put in the big house for simply being an embarrasment to their family but the pendelum has completley swung the other way

you do not "literally have to kill someone to be locked up against your will". that's completely inaccurate.

plenty of people are detained against their will every year in ireland because of mental illness, and the vast vast majority of those people have not harmed anyone else, much less killed them.

secondly, the proportion of homicides committed by mentally ill people is actually very low - about 3% of all homicides, although i suspect that number is decreasing further with the rise in gangland killings.

you do not ahve to be "psycho" to kill... the majority of murderers are in fact completely sane.... not mad, but bad.

the murders by mentally ill people tend to get a lot of press, and tend to be sensationaised by the media. there will always be emotive and dramatic headlines like "knife wielding psycho", "crazed killer", "madman on the loose" etc. and of course the public feels at risk, because in theory it could happen any of us, we could all fall prey to a "nutter". most of the general public feel distanced form gangland killings, they wont affect most people. the fear of the "lunatic at large" however resonates within us all.

but the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of homicides are not committed by the mentally ill.

it is ludicrous to suggest locking people up indefinitely to prevent something like this happening... what do you use to predict risk, and how far do you cast your net? I have the potential to kill, as do most people.

the mental health act is designed to protect the mentally ill and the public in general. however, it also protects a person's human rights. it is a very serious thing to deprive someone of their liberty, and cannnot be taken lightly.

Infants stabbed at Belgian creche

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