Camping murder: suspended prison sentence and community service for hiding corpse
Kelly D. and Bruno C. came to Middelkerke after the murder to ‘solve a problem’. The prosecution had demanded 18 months in prison.
The Middelkerke police spotted a suspicious vehicle in the Spermaliestraat in the night of 6 to 7 December 2017. During a check, they found the lifeless body of a thirty-something from Ostend in the suitcase. Mihael P. had been nearly beheaded and partly set on fire. (read more below the photo)
“Fix the problem”
Driver Kelly D. and her passengers Romuald V. and Bruno C. were arrested. A little later, the police also arrested Alain D. and Julien B. at a campsite nearby. The investigation revealed that D. and C. had been summoned to solve a problem. The couple was still at a Christmas market in Namur when Kelly D. was called by Romuald V.
The investigation found that Kelly D. was called by Romuald V. around 9:30 PM “to resolve a problem.” He would have told us crying that he had just witnessed a murder. Kelly D. claims she advised him to call the police. Nevertheless, she decided to come to Middelkerke herself. She was accompanied by her then boyfriend Bruno C., with whom she was at a Christmas market in Namur that evening.
Bruno C. maintains that he did not know exactly what was going on on his way to Middelkerke. However, Kelly D. phoned Romuald V. for a total of more than an hour during that period. “This must be a joke”, Bruno C. is said to have said when Romuald V. showed him the mutilated body in the caravan. According to his lawyer Mieke Byttebier, the defendant is still deeply impressed by what he saw then. He also claims that he has said that Romuald V. had to file a report.
After five months in pre-trial detention, Bruno C. was released under conditions. Since then, he would have always adhered to those conditions. In those circumstances, the defense successfully requested a more lenient sentence with the exception of pre-trial detention.
Kelly D. also admitted that she was guilty of hiding a body. “She knew along the way that there was a serious problem, but came into a situation that she could not even imagine in the worst film,” said Master Pieter Filipowicz. Her nervous attitude behind the wheel proves to the defense that D. was not acting cool or rational. Both defendants also deny that there was any concrete plan to dump the body. The young woman resumed her law studies after four months in custody. In the meantime, she has graduated and also obtained a master’s degree in notarial practice. With a view to a further career in that world, the defense wants to be able to maintain a clean criminal record. Therefore, Master Filipowicz asked for his client to be suspended. Subordinately, she also declared herself willing to carry out community service. If Kelly D. does not or incompletely carry out that community service, she still faces a 15-month effective prison sentence.
The other three involved (Romuald, Alain and Julien) will probably have to answer for the murder before the West Flemish court of assizes before the summer.