Aarschot man (31) cuts through electronic ankle tag and flees after fourteen-year sentence for attempted murder of mother-in-law
Djaro Van Opstal from Aarschot has gone on the run after learning via SMS that he must serve fourteen years in prison for a knife attack on his ex-mother-in-law. He was under house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Aarschot man (31) cuts through electronic ankle tag and flees after fourteen-year sentence for attempted murder of mother-in-law
Djaro Van Opstal (31) from Aarschot has been missing since the announcement of his sentence. The man was notified via text message that the correctional court had sentenced him to fourteen years in prison for, amongst other things, attempted manslaughter of his former mother-in-law. Shortly afterwards, he cut through his electronic ankle tag and switched off his mobile phone. According to Het Nieuwsblad.
The offences date from 24 September last year. Van Opstal had started a relationship with a woman from Geetbets via Badoo. The romance was turbulent: after a few weeks he moved in with her and two months later she was pregnant. When the relationship fell apart, the woman moved with their newborn daughter to her mother's house.
Van Opstal could not accept this. He set up camp in the woods behind his ex's house and spied on the family. On the morning of 24 September, he went outside dressed in black and attacked his mother-in-law with a spade. He then entered the house, tied his ex to a chair and taped her mouth shut. When the woman heard her mother screaming outside, she called out a warning. Van Opstal pulled out a butterfly knife and stabbed his mother-in-law fifty times in the face, neck, chest, back and organs.
The victim hovered between life and death for days and spent sixty days in hospital, but survived the attack. Van Opstal turned himself in to the police and confessed to everything.
The court sentenced him to fourteen years in prison and ordered his immediate arrest. Since he did not attend the hearing, he learned of the sentence by telephone. After that, he disappeared. Ellen Durie, spokesperson for the Leuven public prosecutor's office, confirms that all units are searching for him. "At present there is no trace of him."
Source: Nieuwsblad