Interned for murder: man who killed Miss Mieke with 101 stab wounds did not do it on impulse | Instagram VTM NEWS

On November 10, 2020, Mieke Verlinden was brutally murdered in her own home, with 101 stab wounds. The murder remained unsolved for a long time, but in March 2022 Gunther Uwents from Berchem, a former student of Mieke Verlinden, turned himself in to the police for the murder. As a child, Uwents felt humiliated and ignored by Mieke Verlinden, his second-year teacher. He hoped that Miss Mieke would respond with understanding and tell him that she did not mean it that way. But according to his statements, she laughed at him almost immediately when he showed up at her door.

The man was examined by a colleague of psychiatrists. They ruled that the man is incompetent. Both at the time of the facts and today. The public prosecutor’s office therefore insisted on internment. Miss Mieke’s relatives also accepted this. “The three experts concluded that the man suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the facts and at the time of the expert examination. And that there is a causal link between the mental disorder and the facts,” the public prosecutor’s office in Antwerp said.

However, there was still a lot of discussion during the council chamber session last month. After all, the public prosecutor and relatives wanted internment for murder. Because, according to them, Uwents acted with premeditation. The defense requested internment for manslaughter. Because he would have acted on impulse, without a prior plan to kill. On Friday, the council chamber in Turnhout decided that Uwents will be interned for murder. “The perpetrator will be admitted to a psychiatric institution. Appeal is possible. If the decision is final, the Chamber for the Protection of Society (KBM) will determine how the internment will proceed,” said the public prosecutor’s office spokesperson.

Mieke Verlinden’s husband did not attend the decision of the council chamber. Other family members did. According to their lawyer, all relatives are relieved with the decision of the council chamber. “The request of the Public Prosecution Service has been followed. The council chamber therefore also believes that Gunter stabbed Uwents with the intention of killing and with premeditation,” says master Kristel Jansens. “It is very important for the family that it is recognized that Uwents committed the facts in a well-reasoned and planned manner, and that it was not carried out on a whim. They had already accepted the internment itself, but they felt it was important that the facts themselves were stated correctly. The opposing party still has thirty days to file an appeal.”

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