Jan Caubergh
Jan Caubergh | |
---|---|
Born | Jan Caubergh September 18, 1934 Lanaken, Belgium |
Died | November 29, 2013 Bruges, Belgium | (aged 79)
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, as well as placing him as one of the most psychotic killers.
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 Belgian). Gazet Van Antwerpen. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "77-year-old multiple murderer is back again" (in Belgian). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "They will never be released again" (in Belgian). De Standaard. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "Serial killer Jan Caubergh (79) died in Bruges prison" (in Belgian). Het Belang van Limburg. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "Notorious Belgian murderer is still alive" (in Belgian). De Telegraaf. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "Oldest prisoner in the country died" (in Belgian). De Standaard. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "The oldest Belgian serial killer dies in a cell" (in Belgian). Het Nieuwsblad. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)