The popular jury of Tongres Assizes court found Ali Ipekci, a member of the biker group Hell’s Angels, guilty of triple homicide on Thursday evening. His victims were Freddy Put, Jef Banken and Michael Gerekens. Relieved by the verdict, several of the civil parties fell into each other’s arms. The defendant was at first impassive, before the judgment’s impact slowly dawned on him. The case dates back to the 20th of May 2011. The manager of a tyre store, who had links to the Hell’s Angels, had organized a reception for the opening of his business. Freddy Put (52), a member of the rival biker gang the Outlaws, and two people close to the gang, Jef Banken (58) and Michael Gerekens (28), were shot near the Industrielaan in Maasmechelen.
The victim’s bodies were put in Freddy Put’s car, which was then sent to the bottom of the canal at Eisden-Dorp.
The investigation centered on three suspects, Ali Ipekci, Giovanni.M, and Eddy.C. The latter, aged, 44 and from Genk, died in prison in 2012. Hell’s Angel Giovanni.M, from As (Limburg), was cleared by the Antwerp Indictment division in March last year.
Several elements were used to prove that Ali Ipekci was responsible for the deaths of the three men. The jury noted six minutes went by between the moment the trio arrived at the tyre store in a white Citroën Berlingo, and the moment the defendant left driving the same vehicle. It also didn’t believe the suspicious statement by the store owner’s wife, who said Ali Ipekci was at her house for a barbecue.
(Source: Belga)
