In December 2017, the court in Maastricht sentenced Donny M. to three years’ conditional placement in a juvenile detention center. In addition, he received almost five months of juvenile detention and clinical treatment at an institution in Eindhoven for mental health care for young people up to the age of 23.
During the press conference on Saturday about the arrest of the suspect in the case of the 9-year-old boy, it became clear that Donny M. is an acquaintance of the judiciary and the police. However, the police would not say for which cases he was previously arrested or convicted.
The defendant’s lawyer said on Sunday that “it will not respond to questions in any way related to the Gino and/or our client Donny M. case for the next three weeks.” The suspect is in restrictions, which means that he is not allowed to talk to anyone except his lawyer. And that the lawyer, the police and the judiciary remain silent to the outside world.
Kidnapping and involvement in Gino’s death
The now 22-year-old man from Geleen will be brought before the examining magistrate in Maastricht on Tuesday or Wednesday. Justice suspects him of kidnapping and involvement in Gino’s death.
The suspect lives near the empty burned-out house in Geleen, where the police found the boy’s body early on Saturday morning. The location was designated by the suspect, who had been arrested shortly before.
Gino disappeared from a playground in Kerkrade on Wednesday evening, where he was staying with a sister. Hundreds of volunteers, officers, firefighters and veterans conducted searches in Kerkrade in the following days. All hopes proved in vain when Gino was found dead in Geleen.