André Gyselbrecht – who is serving a 21-year prison sentence as the client in the castle murder – is not yet allowed to go home systematically during the day. The sentencing court would consider that request today, but that hearing has been postponed by a few weeks “because there are already too many other files on the agenda”.
Limited detention. That is what the former doctor from Ruiselede is actually after. In concrete terms, this means that the father-in-law of the murdered Stijn Saelens (34) should be allowed to leave the prison during the day. According to the rules, this is only possible for 16 hours a day. The seventy would have to return to the prison every night to spend the night. In order to achieve this, Gyselbrecht and his lawyer Filip D’Hont had prepared an entire file in recent months. However, D’Hont doesn’t want to let his cards be looked at. “Too much has already been said about this affair,” he says.
Not the first request to be released
In April 2018, the criminal court sentenced André Gyselbrecht to 27 years in prison. The Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 21 years in March 2019. It is not the first time that Gyselbrecht tries to get out early from the prison of Beveren, where he is staying. Eighteen months ago, he first asked to be released on conditions. Then he hoped to serve his sentence at home with an electronic ankle bracelet. The sentencing court rejected that. According to our information, the court stumbled, among other things, that André Gyselbrecht had insufficiently paid the civil parties at that time. Gyselbrecht also reportedly had to guarantee that he would stay away from his grandchildren – his daughter had four children with the man he had killed.
A few months before that first request for early release, André Gyselbrecht already received the favor to spend a weekend at home with his wife. That went wrong with the parents and relatives of Stijn Saelens. According to our sources, Gyselbrecht recently received another such favor. He then went to say goodbye to a terminally ill friend from Knesselare.
Twice short-lived already
André Gyselbrecht already went to jail in 2012 for the murder of the castle in Wingene, on January 31, 2012. The then doctor – due to his conviction he was canceled as a recognized doctor – was subsequently released twice briefly. He has been in jail since June 2015. André Gyselbrecht insisted for a long time that he only wanted to teach his daughter’s eccentric husband a lesson. It wasn’t until years later that he proceeded to make full confessions. According to Gyselbrecht, he only wanted to protect his grandchildren.
Today, the sentencing court would normally determine Gyselbrecht’s future during a special session in the prison of Beveren. All reports are said to be positive. In principle, payments to civil parties should no longer be a stumbling block either. André Gyselbrecht is also known as a model prisoner. But the hearing was immediately postponed by almost a month due to a so-called overcrowding of the role. Several sources confirm this.
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