Belgium: Ex-student stabs teacher for 101 times, 3 decades later for insulting him in school

A 37-year-old man who said he felt insulted by his teacher in primary school has made a confession to stabbing her to death in 2020, 3 decades later, Belgian prosecutors said on Thursday.

Gunter Uwents revealed to investigators that he had never got over teacher Maria Verlinden’s comments about him during class in the early 1990s, starting when he was a school student ageing around seven years old.

The ruthless murder of 59-year-old Verlinden, at her accommodation in Herentals near Antwerp in 2020, had gone unsolved despite repeated Belgian police enquiries and hundreds of DNA samples to try and find her killer. Her husband had appealed in public for witnesses.

As per the reports, she had been stabbed for 101 times. Moreover, her purse containing cash was left untouched on the dining table next to her body, making it clear that she had not been the victim of a violent robbery.

As per prosecutors, sixteen months after the murder on November 20, 2020, Uwents has reportedly admitted the crime to a friend, who told police. He was nabbed on Sunday.

Uwents has provided a DNA sample to be compared with traces found at the murder scene. As a former pupil, he was in any case due to be caught up in the genetic-sampling dragnet.

Meanwhile, the local prosecutors’ office that Uwents had provided “detailed explanations” for his act, which amounted to a confession. He is alleged to have said he suffered at primary school because of his teacher.

“We will see if the investigation corroborates what he has said,” one prosecutor said.

Uwents appeared before a judge on Tuesday and has been placed in custody on a murder charge.

Belgian media reported that Uwents was a devout Christian known for helping the homeless.