Letter about Kim De Gelder’s going-out permit causes panic among relatives, but “he is only allowed outside for urgent medical reasons”

Kim De Gelder has been staying in the forensic psychiatric center (FPC) of Antwerp for more than two years, where he is interned. Initially, De Gelder was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Ghent court of assizes in 2013 for four murders and 25 murder attempts. Kim De Gelder entered a daycare center in Dendermonde on January 23, 2009, where he stabbed a nurse and two babies to death. Many others were injured. A week earlier he had murdered a woman at home in Vrasene.

In May 2019, a board of psychiatrists decided that De Gelder is schizophrenic. He had to be interned. De Gelder had to go to a high-security psychiatric hospital. Only in 2022 was there room in the FPC Antwerp and he could be transferred there.

Unrest due to letter

A ruling by the Ghent criminal enforcement court on April 29 caused unrest this month among his victims and relatives. They received a letter from the court, which showed that De Gelder’s placement in that FPC had been extended. Two words in that letter caused unrest: the document stated that the placement took place “with exit permits”.

READ ALSO. “Kim De Gelder is still very apathetic 15 years after he struck in a daycare center: “He has seriously deteriorated mentally”

“Only for medical reasons”

Does this mean that Kim De Gelder will soon be allowed to leave the FPC, and that his victims can encounter him on the street?

The East Flemish court is now reassuring the victims with a press release, after unrest arose about this. “This concerns a further placement in a closed regime, whereby he may only leave the FPC for urgent medical reasons that cannot be treated in the FPC itself,” the court explains. De Gelder would therefore only be allowed to leave the FPC to go to another medical institution, and only if a doctor deems it necessary.

Police guidance

“And even if that situation arises (…), this will always be done under the guidance of people from the FPC,” the court continues. “And if necessary, under police escort.” Kim De Gelder will therefore not be able to plan his day independently.

“Even if that situation arises, De Gelder will always be guided by people from the FPC. And if necessary by the police”

“During these possible ‘exits’ he must also comply with conditions,” it said. “Including a ban on staying in East Flanders, and a ban on contacting the victims and their families mentioned in the judgment.”

If Kim De Gelder is ever declared cured by a doctor, he will have to go to prison again.