A seventy-year-old woman was robbed in her home in Cuijk in July, while her recently deceased husband was lying in state in the house. The burglars were chased away by her son and grandson who were visiting for the wake. Bureau Brabant has made a reconstruction, including surveillance images, to catch the perpetrators.
“He was my great love,” says the widow in a reconstruction by Bureau Brabant. “We were together for over fifty years and married for 48 years in May. My husband had the lung disease COPD and at the beginning of this year he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Because cure was no longer possible, he was admitted to a hospice. He died there on July 9.”
For a fitting farewell, her husband was laid out at home. Whether the burglars were aware of the man’s death and the upcoming cremation: the police have not ruled it out. “In that case, they are callous perpetrators, who apparently assumed that the widow was home alone,” says a police spokesperson.
Grandson heard something
Her son and her 16-year-old grandson also slept in the house on Robijnlaan that night. The burglars didn’t know that. About two o’clock in the morning the boy was awakened by a noise that he could not immediately identify. The perpetrators entered the house by forcing the front door with a crowbar.
One of them entered the woman’s bedroom. Her grandson, who had now noticed what was happening, shouted as loudly as he could. His father then woke up and together they chased the burglars out of the house, shouting.
Images from a doorbell camera show the car in which the burglars were traveling. It was probably a dark-colored Mercedes. Two of the three perpetrators appear to be quite small in stature: one is estimated to be around 1.70 meters and another around 1.75 meters. The latter would have a somewhat sturdier build. According to the victim’s son, the trio spoke Dutch with a Brabant accent.
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