justice
The investigating judge has arrested a man from Ronse for arson in which his wife died. He must appear in court on Friday. A neighbor received a phone call from the victim fifteen minutes before the fire. “Godelieve called me in panic that her husband was going to kill her.”
On Monday, 69-year-old Godelieve A. died in a serious fire in Ronse. There were immediate suspicions that the fire had been lit, and the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office has now confirmed this. Resident AF (65) was able to escape the fire, but his 69-year-old wife Godelieve A. remained in the fire.
“From the initial findings of the fire expert it can be deduced that this was a deliberate act of arson,” the public prosecutor’s office said. “The fire expert’s results are not completely ready yet. The lab also went to the scene and a fire dog (trained to find traces of arson, ed.) was deployed.”
“It has not yet been determined who started the fire, but the resident of the building was arrested and brought before the investigating judge in Oudenaarde. He decided to arrest the man. He will appear before the council chamber in Oudenaarde on Friday, which will decide on his further arrest.”
Panic
A neighbor received a phone call from the victim fifteen minutes before the fire. “Godelieve called me in panic that her husband was going to kill her,” says the woman. “I went to look at the window and saw Godelieve lying in the sofa under a blanket. Fifteen minutes later there was an explosion, a loud bang.”
“We immediately went to take a look and saw smoke everywhere inside, smoke was already coming from under the door. The man was able to escape from the back into the garden and was helped over the dividing wire by the neighbor.” According to her, there had been tensions in the family for some time.
Kind word
That neighbor testified in Het Laatste Nieuws that he had saved the resident from the flames. “I immediately returned to look for Godelieve, but the kitchen was on fire. There was fire and smoke everywhere. I tried a few times to get past the flames, but there was no way through. Unfortunately, I had to leave her in the burning house,” says Younes, who is currently on holiday in Morocco.
“It was an impulsive act, I didn’t think about it. It never even occurred to me that I had also put myself in danger. They are neighbors and so you help them in times of need. They would have done that for me too. We know each other, but we don’t have daily contact. I’m not home very much either. There was always a kind word when we saw each other. And when packages came for me in the mail, they kept them.”
