The trial against the West Flemish potato farmer Chris V. (48) started on Thursday in the court of Bruges. The man is charged with murdering his two daughters, Maud (8) and Ona (5), and with the attempted murder of his ex-wife.
The case unfolded in the fall of 2022 when the man's ex-wife received a worrying phone call from her former partner.
The couple had separated that summer after a fight resulted in V. physically abusing his then-wife. She left him, took their daughters with her and filed for a divorce.
In the months preceding the phone call, V. tried everything to win her back. Initially, he pleaded with her and begged for another chance. When she rejected him again, his pleas turned into threats, as he told her he would make sure she could never be happy again.
While the daughters lived with their mother, V. had visitation rights. On Wednesday 16 November, he picked them up from school, as agreed between the parents. After spending an afternoon with them on his farm in Waardamme, he was supposed to drop them off at their mother's at 18:00.
Instead, she received a call from V. He told her that he would take his own life that day and would take the children with him.
The mother immediately alerted the police and rushed to the farm. As she entered the building, the electricity is shut off. She went to the fuse box, but noticed it has been sabotaged and could potentially electrocute her if she touched it. Instead, she decided to go back outside and wait for the police.
Murder-for-hire
The farm in Waardamme during the investigation into the murder. Credit: Belga/Kurt Desplenter
The daughters, Maud and Ona, were found in beds in the farm and the neighbouring vacation home, operated by their mother. The sisters were suffocated with a plastic bag.
V. was intercepted on a highway near Ostend and arrested after a pursuit that saw him crash into multiple police cars before hitting a lighting pole.
He confessed to murdering his daughters, stating that he acted out of fear of losing them. After suffocating Maud and Ona and laying them in the beds where they were found, he visited multiple farmers in the area and called around to inquire about the price of potatoes.
The man said he attempted to commit suicide multiple times that day, but failed to do so.
While in prison pending his trial, he approached two inmates and offered them €12.000 to have his ex-wife murdered. Police intercepted a picture of the woman and her address in the cell of one of the two inmates.
Now, V. is being charged with murder for the deaths of his two daughters. Additionally, he is being charged with attempted murder of his ex-wife, as investigators believe that he sabotaged the fuse box to electrocute her when she tried to turn the lights on.
V. risks a lifelong prison sentence.
The murder for hire is being treated as a separate case and will go to court on a later date.
A commemorative card during the funeral of two Maud and Ona. Credit: Belga/Kurt Desplenter
