In Nijvel a woman (40) killed her five children, then tried to commit suicide. Her situation is not life threatening. The murders took place in the family home, a large house in a good neighborhood, near the center of Nijvel, between 1-2:30pm.
The couple are a mixed marriage. The woman, Généviève Lhermitte, is Belgian and her husband is Moroccan. After getting married she converted to Islam.
The father (43), a salesman, was out of the country when the murders took place. At the end of January he went with his mother, who had been visiting for the New Year's, on a trip to Morocco.
He was informed at the airport of the tragedy and immediately headed home. He is being attend by psychologists.
The children: Medhi, Yasmine, Myriam, Nora and Mina were between four and fourteen. Earlier in the day they had been brought to school by their mother.
At about 1pm she delivered a letter to a friend who lives in the neighborhood where she wrote that she was in a hopeless situation. She mentioned there a drama, without giving further details.
She let the children watch TV, then called them one by one into another room where she slit their throats. she then laid them in bed. Only the oldest fought against her mother. The woman called the emergency services herself, then put out a note on the front door saying "Call the police".
The emergency services which responded are also getting psychological help.
The mother had been getting psychological treatment for depression for considerable time. The Public Prosecution concluded she was in an "extremely confused situation". The couple had matrimonial problems but there is currently no known reasons for her actions. First investigation shows that she felt isolated in her family.
The family moved to their current house in July, 2000. Neighbors say the family was social and well integrated. The mother was a housekeeper and the father was away for long periods due to his work, but the neighborhood did not notice any problem.
Jef Vermassen, A lawyer in the field of "family dramas" said that "there are two types: the first is the man who feels discriminated by a divorce. But the head category is the depressive mother who wants to commit suicide and then realizes: I still have children that I'm responsible for. She sees no other way out than to take her children with her to the death." He said this case was unique in that mothers usually don't choose such a violent way, but mostly kill their children with pills or suffocation.
The mother will be prosecuted for murder.
Sources: Telegraaf (Dutch), HLN (Dutch)
6 comments:
I understand the woman very well, and feel sorry for her.
The man from morocco are dangerous, and I advice no one who is not Moroccan to marry a man from morocco
Hi anonymous,
This woman killed her five kids by slitting their throats. If she would say she did it for Allah, would you also understand her then?
The husband can be accused of a lot of things, but you can't ignore the fact that his wife killed all of his kids. How is he directly responsible for that?
To anonymous why would anyone not marry Moroccan? Have you anything against Moroccan men?
Esther, why would a mother kill her kids for Allah? Is there a reason for that.
The mother is a Belgian, she was a plain murderer. In Holland too many Dutch parents kill their children and family lately, you see that it has nothing to do with muslims. Its more a problem within the Belgian and Dutch culture.
Orhan
anonymous2,
I didn't say there is a reason. I'm just wondering if those who are so understanding for this woman and blame the father would do so if she would give "Islam" as a reason for the murder.
I do not think this murder had anything to do with Islam. But it did have to do with a mixed marriage and it affected the Muslim community in Belgium. As such, I brought it on my blog.
I can understand the cross-cultural problems she may have, Distrust is part of the package of many wives of Moroccans Algerians and Tunisians when men "marry" again in their own countries, despite being also married to European converts. They marry for the paperwork these unions offer, so may Allah forgive this woman...
My previous comment wrongly implies that this was her husband's agenda, which is not founded. What I wanted to say is that mistrust is commonplace in mixed-cultural relationships, as the woman's reponsibilites and fears are not rightly understood or sympathised by Arab men. Perhaps she needed more help. As European muslims we should support each other more, particularly when there is this level of suffering.
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