A smashed window next to the front door is the silent witness of the drama that took place on Friday in a corner house on the Elfenbank in Asten. The police raided the house to prevent a father from murdering his six- and seven-year-old sons. The neighbors say they are still in shock from the event days later.
The neighbor of the house that the police raided Friday morning was at work at the time. Like most people in the otherwise quiet residential area in Asten. “We are in shock,” he says. “They were nice people, but we had hardly any contact, now and then a chat about the fence. And our children sometimes played with their children,” says the man, visibly upset.
The neighbor never noticed any problems with the neighbours, or domestic violence. “But everyone is very private here and we don’t interfere with other people,” he says.
“That’s when I knew something was wrong.”
A neighbor across the street suddenly saw the street full of police cars and ambulances on Friday morning. “That’s when I knew something was wrong,” she says. The people living in the house where the police raided actually had no contacts in the area, says the neighbor across the street. “I only know them from sight. I never noticed any problems.”
People in the neighborhood are especially surprised that something like this could happen in their neighborhood. The police arrested the man, who allegedly planned to kill his sons. “I just hope that the mother and the children are well taken care of and that they receive professional help,” says a woman from the neighbourhood. She adds that nothing like this ever happens in Asten: “Fortunately”, she adds.