Dutroux blames paedophile network for girls' deaths

From STEPHEN CASTLE in Arlon, Belgium

Marc Dutroux, yesterday blamed a paedophile network with police backing and his estranged wife for the gruesome deaths of four girls who were among those abducted, drugged, abused and held captive at his Belgian home.

In an extraordinary, two and a half hours of testimony, he claimed that policemen took part in the kidnap and rape of two teenaged victims.

Gasps of shock rang out as Dutroux also described how he stored the emaciated bodies of two eight-year-olds in a freezer before burying them, and gave explicit details of sex acts with one of his surviving victims.

Allowed to give his own version of events unchallenged, Dutroux spoke in a calm, assured tone, presenting himself as the victim of corrupt police, a dangerous criminal network and his uncaring parents. His testimony was a chilling combination of the grotesque and the banal.

One moment he was boasting of his practical skills in constructing an underground cell at his home in Marcinelle, then he described his sexual abuse of a 12-year-old.

Six girls were drugged and held captive in the house in Marcinelle, four in the underground dungeon, of whom two survived.

Only when prompted by the judge did Dutroux concede that the deaths of four girls, two aged eight, were "truly regrettable".

He added: "Four people can never come back. I cannot repair that. Had I not agreed to do what I did they would probably be alive. I cannot accept all the blame, but my part of the responsibility I accept."

Dutroux appeared behind bullet-proof glass, seated next to co-defendants, Michelle Martin, his now-estranged second wife, Michel Lelievre, a drifter and drug addict, and Michel Nihoul, a businessman, fixer and police informant.

Now aged 47, Dutroux is accused of multiple counts of rape, the murder of two of his teenage victims and of an accomplice, Bernard Weinstein (thought to have been buried alive), as well as holding six girls prisoner, two of whom who died while he was in prison.

Although he did not enter a formal plea, Dutroux said he had abducted four girls and admitted having sex with three of them but denied murder. But his version of events only served to confuse an already muddy picture, and was comprehensively contradicted later by his ex-wife Ms Martin.

With the four defendants now blaming each other, the jury will have to determine which - if any - it can be believed.

In a departure from previous written evidence Dutroux accused Nihoul of being the master mind behind the abductions and the link to an extensive paedophile network. Earlier written testimony had been "stuffed with lies" in order to protect his estranged wife, he said.

Portraying himself as a victim, Dutroux said his childood and adolescence had been miserable, and he claimed he was framed for offences, including child rape, for which he was jailed for 13 years.

He denied any role in the abduction of the two eight-year-old victims, Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo.

He had, he said, returned home one day in 1995 to find them in the house with Ms Martin, his ex-wife, Nihoul, Lelievre and his other accomplice, Bernard Weinstein.

Dutroux said he was shocked to hear that the girls had been abducted for a paedophile network, adding: "At the time, homosexuality and paedophilia was the same for me. It was Chinese to me," he told the judge.

He even claimed that the construction of the underground cell was for the protection of the pair of schoolfriends from Nihoul's network and said he warned off one accomplice who had sexually abused Melissa.

In December 1995 Dutroux was sent to jail for another offence, apparently abandoning the two eight-year-olds to starve in their subterranean cell.

Dutroux said the two schoolfriends were dead when he emerged from prison four months later - another change from previous evidence - and that their bodies were stored for more than a week in a freezer before being buried.

Warming to his theme that a network of paedophiles was at work, Dutroux said that two unnamed policemen and Lelievre helped abduct An Marchal, aged 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, aged 19, near Ostende.

On the instructions of Nihoul, the two girls were drugged then raped, before being taken to Dutroux's home in Marcinelle, he said.

Dutroux denied their murder, saying they were taken away by Weinstein, but admitted having sex with Eefje with whom he claimed an attachment.

"It is a real shame this girl is dead. I think this is a catastrophe", he said in an isolated moment of regret.

Finally, Dutroux admitted helping kidnap Sabine Dardenne, 12 years old at the time, and Laetitia Delhez, then aged 14, the two surviving victims. He gave graphic details of how he abused both girls, having oral sex from one of them on a dozen occasions. Afterwards she was given a sweet, Dutroux said, to remove the taste from her mouth.

Giving evidence later Martin rejected Dutroux's account, saying her estranged husband had admitted kidnapping the two eight-years-olds and complained that they were too young.

Martin says she was too scared to open the underground cellar but that Melissa and Julie were alive when Dutroux was released from prison.

They later died, Martin said, adding that Dutroux later told her: "Julie is in the freezer."

She also said Dutroux had admitted to killing An and Eefje, and she concluded her evidence with an expressing of regret to the girls' parents for her role in the crimes.

Georges-Henri Beauthier, representing Laetitia Delhez, added: "It is cowardice. To hear that he [Dutroux] did nothing is untenable for us."

He said that he was going to prove the existence of a criminal network, but using evidence not given by Dutroux.

Meanwhile Frederic Clement de Clety, the lawyer representing Nihoul was more blunt: "It is an insult to the family of the victims. This morning we have had an extraordinary example of the man Dutroux is and how he lies and manipulates."

- INDEPENDENT