Ludo de B. kidnapped, raped and killed teenage girls in the border region. He has been locked up for more than 30 years. Everyone agreed on Thursday in the court in Breda that his TBS should be extended by two years. The disorder is still there, just like the danger of repetition. “I agree,” Ludo de B. responded.
“I don’t think that extension is such a disaster. I just started. I think that’s normal.” The B. said that at the start of the court case on Thursday afternoon. Although he agrees with treatment for another two years, he thinks he is no longer a danger to society. “I don’t see myself falling back in things,” he said.
Yet he is the only one who thinks about it that way. His practitioners still see a disorder with him and according to them there is a risk of recurrence.
Bunch
Ludo de B. is a carpenter by profession and now 65 years old. In the early 1990s, he kidnapped and raped several Belgian teenage girls in the border region. He also killed two victims: Inge (14) from Wuustwezel and Ines (16) from Essen. The B. hit them unconscious and buried the teenagers in a forest near Putte.
He received twenty years in prison and TBS with compulsory treatment. He served his sentence: his TBS treatment began in 2003 and he still runs.
Ill
Experts judge him every few years. Their findings are then discussed in a public lawsuit, such as this Thursday. The conclusion has long been the same: treatment has little results and clinics cannot do anything with him because the core problems remain up to date. Namely a morbid disorder and a lack of development.
In February 2021 a request was made to place him in a TBS clinic for the rest of his life, without further treatment and without leave. But in the summer of 2022, psychologists and psychiatrists gathered to see if something could still be done. The Rooyse Wissel in Oostrum in Limburg wanted to record him. He has been living and working there for two years now and seems to have experienced a kind of growth.
“That goes very well. I participate in woodwork. And I also do cooking with the group. I am also in the patient council. I have a very busy day,” he said the B. He also says he feels seen, as a person.
Leave
Since November he also has double supervised leave. So he can go outside briefly with two people who keep an eye on him. “Walking, cycling, occasionally to a store. I like that very much. I’ve been thirteen times.”
A witness expert from the clinic explained that the leave is ‘flawless’. Possibly there will be a time when he can also go outside with only one companion. Unaccompanied leave has not yet been discussed.
‘Uglier’
The court chairman asked a question to the B. about that leave. “Do you understand that victims find that difficult? The B. nodded:” I understand that. If I had been in their shoes, I would have done even uglier. “But he thinks he is also entitled to some freedom after all these years.” After such a long time I can expect more. I have always cooperated well. ”
The witness expert confirmed that he feels good and cooperates. But both the public prosecutor, and his lawyer and the B. himself fully agreed: two years extra in the TBS is the only right one.
Clinic
The judges normally take two weeks for a decision, but now they decided almost immediately: two years of extension. “How long you will stay there that will show the future,” the court chairman said. And so Ludo de B. disappeared again with the public prosecutor’s office, to the detention car, back to the clinic in Limburg.
The relatives responded satisfied afterwards, also among them the mother of Inge. They are worried about that leave of the B. and do not hope that it will happen that he can only go on leave. It became clear at the session that the Ministry of Justice and Security also looks strictly and can intervene. The relatives are considering writing a letter with their concerns.