
A 37-year-old man confessed to stabbing his teacher to death nearly three decades after he was allegedly humiliated by her in primary school, according to the Belgian prosecutors.
Gunter Uwents, when questioned by the investigators, said that he never forgot his alleged interaction with Maria Verlinden, 59, in the 1990s when he was just seven years old.
According to the statement, he claimed that he lost control while visiting her in November 2020 at her home in Noorderwijk near Antwerp. He ended up stabbing her 101 times in the kitchen.
Police have been investigating this case for a long time and after taking hundreds of DNA samples over a period of 16 months, the victim’s husband made a public appeal for witnesses. Police ruled out any chances of robbery as her purse containing cash was left untouched on the kitchen table.
In March last year, Uwents had admitted the crime to a friend who alerted the police. The prosecutors said that his DNA sample matched the traces found on the crime scene.
Lut Verlinden, 62, the victim’s sister, who also taught Uwents in the 1990s, told Het Nieuwsblad: “We are all confused. I have contacted all former colleagues with whom Gunter was in class, but no one can remember an incident between him and Maria.
“Gunter was always a quiet, introverted boy. There was nothing more to say about him. His parents are also very good Catholic people. I feel sorry for them, because they will never dare to show themselves in Noorderwijk again, I’m afraid,” she added.