Pieter V. remembered how Jill Himpe moved in with her mother in Wevelgem in the summer of 2019. “Jill once said she was being followed and threatened on the phone by her ex-boyfriend.” The witness, like other local residents, received a note with the telephone number of a police officer. “That was for suspicious circumstances. I saw a suspicious BMW pass slowly a few times, but I was unable to note a license plate.”
V.’s then girlfriend also remembered that they found a note in the mailbox. “It said that we had to report suspicious matters to the police. His name and a brief personal description were also on it.”
Shirley S. talked to Jill Himpe several times about her breakup. “She said she broke up with her boyfriend because she felt like she was trapped in that relationship.” The victim also told her that the accused had used violence before. “She was a bit frightened by everything that had already happened, but she did not go into detail. She did say that she was still being harassed by him.”
Another neighbor was also asked to report suspicious matters about ‘a Moroccan man’ to the police. “But we never saw anyone there, I must say.” Kurt D. only spoke to Jill Himpe twice. “I heard from her mother Caroline that she was very afraid of that man, but I never heard that from Jill herself.”