Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

You gotta hear see this to believe it...

Man facing charges for having sex with....


(David Letterman makes fun of it)

Insane doesn't even come close to the story that hit the frontpages here in Holland this week. It's one of those stories that got weirder and weirder as time went on. Check this out. About a month ago in Rotterdam, the police got a phonecall from someone that thought their neighbour was kidnapped/held against his will. Two police officers got the call and went over to the house to check it out. According to the reports, the two cops could hear the victim (a 28-year old male) scream in extreme pain once they got there. But instead of helping the victim - who seemed to be in mortal danger - they called for backup and waited. By the time backup did arrive (according to witnesses it took an hour; the cops maintain it was 30 minutes), the victim had already died from - as it turned out - brutal torture. Shortly after that the police arrested two male 25-year old suspects (Walter van A. and Jeffrey S.) and a 24-year old woman (Marian D.). Apparantly the two men had enough time to leave the scene of the crime.

Naturally there was a big public outcry about the fact that two armed police officers just waited outside an appartment while the victim - literally - was being tortured to death inside; what where they thinking? Off course the official police statement was that the two cops just followed procedures; whenever a hostage situation (kidnapping) is called in, they are instructed to not just kick in a door, but 'observe' the situation until backup arrives. This is done to not bring either the hostage - or the cops - in harms way.

Obviously in this situation that procedure was wrong; if the cops would have done something it is likely that the victim would still be alive. Given that fact, this week the police announced they will review this case and see if the procedures for these cases need to be changed or not.

So far one would just conclude that this was a tragic incident. But then news leaked out about the motive for the murder.

The 28-year old victim was rumoured to have repeatedly sexually abused his 5-year old son. The woman that was arrested (Marian D.) turned out to be the ex-girlfriend of the 'victim' and she had told the two men about the abuse of their son. The two then decided to take matters in their own hands and applied some 'justice' of their own to the 'victim' and "got medieval on his ass". She, however, was not present during the crime.

After hearing this, I more or less could understand why this could have happened. Not that I think people should take matters in their own hands, but at least I could see why this horrible thing could occur.

But a day later things got to a whole new level again: according to an ex-girlfriend (Magda E.) of one of the two male suspects, "he got 'inspired' by a torture scene in a movie called "Hostel 2"". The police have not confirmed anything yet, but did say "details where to gruesome" to release to the press.

The sad thing is that for all we know the ex-girlfriend of the victim might have held a grudge againt him and just used the abuse as an excuse to get him murdered by her two psychopath friends.

Who knows?

Bizarre news of the day: Austrian girl 'found' after 8 years. As incredible as it may be: a 10 year old girl that disappeared on her way to school in Vienna on March 2, 1998 was found again after she was able to escape her captor. Police were called when she was found staggering in a garden. The kidnapper, named in Austrian media as 44-year old Wolfgang Priklopil, had been chased by police earlier on Wednesday evening and his red BMW car was later found abandoned. The suspected kidnapper died after throwing himself in front of a train.

The story is to bizarre for words: the woman was abducted and held captive in a sealed garage at the house in Strasshof, in the Gaenserndorf area on Vienna's northeastern outskirts. Police have searched the garage, and say it looked like a dungeon. Austrian media report that the room had a cavity measuring four by three metres (yards), with an entrance measuring 50cm by 50cm. They believe it was blocked with a sound-proof safe whenever the kidnapper left the scene. A bed and bookshelf with children's books were reportedly also found there.

Few details of Wednesday's events have been made public. But the state broadcaster ORF carried remarks by Erich Zwettler of the Austrian federal police saying that the girl escaped from her captor when the door to her hiding place was open, and ran into a nearby garden where she told an elderly woman that her name was Natascha Kampusch and that she had been kidnapped. Although police have not identified the suspect, Austrian media have said he was 44-year-old Priklopil, described as a communications technician. The police had contact with the alleged kidnapper about three months after Kampusch disappeared in 1998 but that he had a "sturdy alibi" at the time.

Trying to imagine how she must have survided all those long years just sends shivers down my spine. Too bad the guy committed suicide.

Update: video of Natascha's dungeon