The council chamber in Turnhout decided on Friday to intern Gunter Uwents, the man who killed teacher Mieke from Noorderwijk (Herentals) in 2020 with 101 stab wounds. This was done on the basis of the classification of murder and not manslaughter.
The panel of experts previously ruled that Uwents was incompetent. Both Uwents’ defense and the surviving relatives do not oppose internment. There was only some discussion on the basis of which charge the perpetrator would be interned: for manslaughter or for murder. The council chamber decided on Friday to intern Uwents for murder.
The defense is satisfied with this decision. “The chairman of the council chamber has ruled that Uwents killed Miss Mieke with premeditation and not on an impulse,” says Master Kristel Jansens, the lawyer for Miss Mieke’s relatives. “This qualification was very important for us.”
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Several family members and surviving relatives of the murdered Mieke Verlinden were present on Friday morning to listen to the decision of the council chamber. Widower Michel Peeters was not present. Gunter Uwents himself did not wish to be transferred from prison to the courthouse in Turnhout.
Uwents’ defense can still appeal against the decision of the council chamber.
Maria ‘Mieke’ Verlinden was found dead in her home in Noorderwijk (Herentals) on November 10, 2020, with no fewer than 101 stab wounds. Gunter Uwents, a former student of Miss Mieke, was arrested only a year and a half later after an emotional appeal from Miss Mieke’s husband. His pangs of conscience followed an emotional appeal from Miss Mieke’s husband. A DNA test also eventually led to a confession.
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