After a discussion, Kimberly L. stabbed her boyfriend Sam De Pourck with a knife in Ghent on Wednesday night. The woman confessed the facts. They had a turbulent relationship and according to the woman she saw no other way out. But many questions are being raised about her statement.
During an hours-long interrogation on Thursday, 32-year-old Kimberly L. confessed that she had stabbed her boyfriend Sam De Pourck on Wednesday night in his apartment on the Zilverenberg, near the Oude Beestenmarkt in Ghent. The couple was together for four years and had a two-year-old son.
In her statement to the police, L. said that her boyfriend hit her. Many people around the couple knew that the relationship was turbulent. L. is also said to have been aggressive towards an ex-boyfriend of hers in the past.
In 2022, De Pourck was already convicted of beating his girlfriend. The court imposed a sentence with probation conditions on him. At first he followed it well, but then not anymore. In recent months, the police came to the door several times, neighbors testified.
The couple had another heated argument on Wednesday evening. During the day, the couple visited the boarding school where Kimberly’s other two children stayed. There was no discussion between the two. Back in the apartment at the Zilverenberg, the atmosphere changed.
Around midnight on Wednesday, neighbors again heard shouting and arguing. According to L., she had been beaten in the stomach and ribs. She said she rushed onto the balcony and screamed for help. Sam would then have pulled her back in.
L. told the police that he then took a knife from the kitchen and wanted to take his own life. The man then allegedly put the knife on the bed and, according to L., she suddenly had it in her hands. She stabbed her friend in the leg, and he fell down. When he tried to run away, she stabbed him in the back again.
Ultimately, L. himself informed the emergency services, but only after a few minutes. At first her cell phone didn’t work, she explained. A lie, it quickly turned out. Investigators discovered that she had called a friend five minutes earlier to ask what to do.
Investigators are now trying to reconstruct exactly what happened between the walls of the apartment on Wednesday night. L. is in prison pending further investigation. The investigating judge decided on Thursday to arrest the woman on suspicion of manslaughter, or deliberately killing someone without premeditation. The woman must appear before the council chamber on Tuesday.
Her lawyer Thierry Goffart confirms that his client is fully cooperating with the police and the public prosecutor’s office. “She realizes what she did that night and she is cooperating with the investigation,” it said. “It is now a matter of investigating the exact circumstances of the facts.”
Anyone who has questions about suicide can contact the suicide line via the toll-free number 1813 or at www.zelfbloed1813.be
