The first murder
Before the attack in Dendermonde, 72-year-old Elza Van Raemdonck was killed at her home in Vrasene. Prosecutors later included her death in the same criminal case against Kim De Gelder.
The relationship between the two incidents became important at trial because the prosecution did not treat the nursery attack as an isolated burst of violence. The jury was asked to assess De Gelder's responsibility for four completed murders as well as attempted murders committed during the attack on the childcare centre.
The Fabeltjesland attack
On January 23, 2009, De Gelder entered the Fabeltjesland childcare centre in Dendermonde. Nursery worker Marita Blindeman and two infants, Corneel and Leon, were killed. Other children and staff members were injured.
Contemporary reports varied slightly in how they counted attempted-murder charges or injured victims at different procedural stages. The final Dutch-language VRT report on the verdict states that the jury convicted De Gelder of four murders and 23 attempted murders. An English-language VRT summary described 24 attempted-murder charges. Crime by Region therefore does not present the procedural count as though every source used identical terminology.
Arrest and prosecution
De Gelder was detained on the day of the nursery attack. The investigation connected him to the earlier killing in Vrasene, and the combined case eventually went before the Ghent Court of Assizes.
A central question was criminal responsibility. The defence argued that severe mental illness meant De Gelder could not be held legally accountable for his actions. The jury heard extensive psychiatric evidence before rejecting that position for purposes of the 2013 criminal trial.
The 2013 verdict
On March 22, 2013, the assize jury found De Gelder guilty of four murders and numerous attempted murders. It also found that he was criminally responsible for his actions at the time of the offences.
The court imposed life imprisonment. De Gelder did not pursue a cassation appeal, making the life sentence final. The verdict therefore resolved the question of criminal guilt even though his mental-health treatment later changed.
January 2009: Elza Van Raemdonck is killed at her home in Vrasene.
January 23, 2009: the Fabeltjesland childcare centre is attacked in Dendermonde; Marita Blindeman and two infants are killed and many others are injured.
January 23, 2009: Kim De Gelder is detained.
March 22, 2013: a Ghent assize jury finds him guilty of four murders and numerous attempted murders and holds him criminally responsible.
2013: he receives life imprisonment and does not pursue cassation.
May 2019: a Ghent court orders secure psychiatric placement because of his then-current mental condition; the life sentence itself remains in force.
Later psychiatric placement
In 2019, a court in Ghent decided that De Gelder should be held in a secure psychiatric setting rather than an ordinary prison environment. VRT reported that experts considered his mental condition serious enough to justify that placement.
This later ruling did not erase the 2013 verdict. VRT explained that if De Gelder were ever considered sufficiently recovered, he would return to prison to continue serving the life sentence. The distinction matters: a later treatment decision is not the same as a post-conviction finding of innocence or an annulment of criminal responsibility at trial.
Current status
The four murders are solved and adjudicated. De Gelder's life sentence remains the governing criminal judgment, while his custodial setting has been shaped by subsequent psychiatric assessments.
The case is remembered not only because of the setting and age of the victims, but also because the trial forced the jury to confront a difficult legal question: whether serious psychiatric illness removed criminal responsibility. In 2013, the jury concluded that it did not.
Sources
Archive context
This case is included in the Belgium archive. Related Belgian case files include Marc Dutroux, Ronald Janssen and The Murder of Karel Van Noppen.