Boezingenaar found guilty of murdering his father

Court psychiatrists had confirmed this week that the accused murdered his father Ghislain (55) in a psychotic state. The experts were of the opinion that the Boezingenaar was indeed accountable, because he knew what consequences his cocaine use could have.

The defense asked for an acquittal, but the jury did not agree. The judgment noted that Cédric Vandecasteele admitted during the investigation and at his trial that he inflicted the fatal stab wounds himself. In addition, it was pointed out that the stings were violently and forcefully inflicted. The 20 centimeter kitchen knife even went into the body as far as 17 centimeters. Those sixteen stab wounds perforated the victim’s heart, aorta and left lung. “There is not the slightest reasonable doubt that he acted intentionally and had the intent to kill,” read chairman Joeri Pieters.

Certain drug disinhibition

The word psychosis was not mentioned at all in the judgment. The jury members judged that the cocaine caused at most a certain degree of disinhibition. “He should have foreseen that because of that high dose of perhaps two grams he put himself in a disinhibiting state.” Finally, it was noted that according to the court psychiatrists he did not suffer from a mental disorder, although they believed that Vandecasteele was in a psychotic state. (read more below the video)