Beast of Belgium gets life without parole

The Beast of Belgium Marc Dutroux was jailed for life without parole today for a spate of child kidnappings, rapes and murders that horrified the nation and drew international notoriety.

Judge Stephane Goux said he hoped the sentencing would offer Dutroux’s two surviving victims and the families a sense of closure.

“I hope your future will be better now, and that you move on,” Goux said after reading a 50 page decision on more than 200 counts against Dutroux and three co-defendants, which listed the torture and sexual acts committed against minors.

To Dutroux, seated in the dock in Arlon behind bullet-proof glass, the judge said: “Marc Dutroux, you are leaving better off than your victims, who are no longer among us.”

Dutroux, 47, was convicted last Thursday of abducting, imprisoning and raping six girls. He was also found guilty of murdering two of the girls, 17-year-old An Marchal and 19-year-old Eefje Lambrecks, as well as an accomplice, Bernard Weinstein. Two other girls starved to death while being held in a hidden dungeon in his basement.

Dutroux was handed a life sentence with no chance of parole because of “the danger he represents to society,” Goux said. The sentence was determined jointly by a 12 member jury and three-judge panel.

In Belgium, jury verdicts cannot be appealed, except on procedural grounds. In that case, the supreme court reviews the verdict.

His ex-wife, Michelle Martin, was sentenced to 30 years in prison. She was held responsible for the deaths of the two eight-year-olds, who starved to death while Dutroux was serving a short prison sentence for car theft. Martin testified she was too afraid to enter the basement to feed them.

An accomplice, Michel Lelievre, was sentenced to 25 years behind bars. He was convicted of complicity in the kidnappings and other charges.

The final co-defendant, Michel Nihoul, was jailed for five years for his part in a gang that smuggled drugs and people into Belgium.

The sentencing ended a 3 1/2-month trial in a case that haunted Belgium for nearly a decade, leading to judicial and police reforms and crackdowns on child sex crimes.

The public was shocked to learn that police searched Dutroux’s house in 1995 but failed to find the secret basement cell, even though they heard voices. A second search also was unsuccessful.

Adding to public disbelief was the fact that Dutroux had previously been convicted for paedophilia and was on parole for raping schoolgirls in 1989 when he struck again.

In a final plea today, Dutroux contested the verdict. He sought again to link others to the crimes and insisted anew he was not guilty of murder or of kidnapping the eight-year-olds.

Dutroux said he would fight “until the end of my life” to prove his innocence. Judge Goux cut him off, reminding Dutroux he had already been convicted.

For family members of victims, the sentencing evoked mixed emotions.

“I am content,” said Jean Lambrecks, whose teenage daughter, Eefje, was drugged and buried alive. “But we are still the biggest losers because I lost a daughter and I’ll never get her back.”

Others said they found it alarming that others implicated in the heinous acts - such as businessman Nihoul – could soon be roaming the streets again. Prosecutors had requested at least 10 years, instead of the five he received.

“It’s scary that he didn’t get the maximum,” said Paul Marchal, father of the 17-year-old victim, An. “That’s scary.”