Assizes double room murder: witness interrogated again after other statements
The man stated on Wednesday that in the night of September 30 to October 1, 2018, he went to ask the accused, Mohammad Taqi M, for a joint. According to the witness, victim Youlia Soboleva (19) seemed shocked when she came out at that moment. He suddenly denied several other details from his statement.
However, the man had stated at the time, for example, that the accused hid a knife behind his back that night. The witness in question was taken to the assize court by the Vlas police zone. During the drive back, according to public prosecutor Serge Malefason, he spontaneously started talking to the police officers. “The PV on this shows that a witness has told other things that can shed a different light on this case.”
Recording played for jury
Remarkably, the conversation of a total of 46 minutes was recorded by the police. The Public Prosecution Service therefore successfully requested that the witness and the police officers in question be questioned as witnesses. A court order was even issued for the witness himself.
The defense questioned the way those statements came about. For example, the man in the police vehicle was not assisted by a lawyer. In the end, master Dennis Van Overstraeten himself insisted on playing the sound recording. “The content of that USB stick is, in my opinion, so explosive that we want the jury to hear the full version of this USB stick.”
In principle, the witness examinations will be completed today.