Fabien Lombaerts (41) has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of four homeless people before the Walloon Brabant court of assizes. He also received an additional 15 years at the disposal of the sentencing court. His companion René De Staerke (43) was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Lombaerts is no stranger to assizes. In 2004, he was convicted of stabbing an elderly woman to death. After his release, he killed at least four homeless people in Evere, La Hulpe and Schaarbeek in 2018 and 2019. Those murders earned him the nickname ‘the strangler with the belt’, a reference to his working method. He has no motive.
The court suspects Lombaerts of more murders, but yesterday he was only found guilty of the death of the four homeless. According to experts, he may well have the most deaths of all Belgian serial killers.
“Possibly Surprised”
De Staerke accompanied Lombaerts in the four murders. He may have been surprised by the first, the court ruled. For this he was merely convicted as an accomplice. For the other three murders, De Staerke was also found guilty of murder.
The Solicitor General had asked for life imprisonment for both men. For Lombaerts, he wanted an additional 15 years of posting. The defense disagreed and cited some extenuating circumstances for both perpetrators.
For Lombaerts, however, they were all swept aside. The judgment further emphasized the brutality of the accused. For De Staerke, his chaotic life and his clean criminal record were taken into account.
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