Jan Caubergh
Jan Caubergh | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jan Caubergh September 18, 1934 Lanaken, Belgium |
| Died | November 29, 2013 (aged 79) Bruges, Belgium |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death, commuted to life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
| Country | Belgium |
Jan Caubergh (September 18, 1934, Lanaken – November 29, 2013, Bruges) was a Belgian serial killer. In 1966, he received 25 years of forced labour for his participation in a robbery in which his gang shot a nurse who was severely maimed and later committed suicide. In 1977 he was released on parole.
On February 21, 1979, he raped his pregnant neighbour, 19-year-old Yvonne Smits, shooting her in the back of the head afterwards. Later he strangled his girlfriend, 24-year-old Rina Van Geldorp and their five-month-old son Nicky. He also wounded a policeman with a Long Rifle, later rigging up his police car in an attempt to injure another two policemen. After a manhunt lasting several days in which he hid himself on barges on the Albert Canal and a bottle stopper factory in Deurne, he was arrested in a hotel in Athenembuurt, Antwerp.[1][2] He was given the death sentence, but it was later converted to a life imprisonment.
In 2003 Caubergh stabbed a prison guide with a cake knife during a trip out of the central prison in Leuven. The supervisor survived the attack. In September 2010, Caubergh received another 12 years in prison.[3] He spent more than 45 years of his life in prison, the last 34 and a half of which were uninterrupted. That made him one of the longest-serving detainees in the country.
On November 5, 2013, several reports from the Belgian media announced that Caubergh had died in the penitentiary complex in Bruges.[4] This was denied a few days later by the Belgian Prison System.[5] He eventually died on November 29, 2013. At that time he was the oldest detainee in Belgium.[6][7]
References
- ^ "Murderer has eaten my heart for 34 years" (in Flemish). Gazet Van Antwerpen. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
- ^ "77-year-old multiple murderer is back again" (in Flemish). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
- ^ "They will never be released again" (in Flemish). De Standaard. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ^ "Serial killer Jan Caubergh (79) died in Bruges prison" (in Flemish). Het Belang van Limburg. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Notorious Belgian murderer is still alive" (in Flemish). De Telegraaf. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ^ "Oldest prisoner in the country died" (in Flemish). De Standaard. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
- ^ "The oldest Belgian serial killer dies in a cell" (in Flemish). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 3 December 2013.