The holiday home in the Ardennes. That is the place where Eddy Snelders (64), who has played more than six hundred first division matches and was a valued football analyst for many years, mainly secretly filmed women. There, in the bathroom of the holiday home, he appeared to have installed so-called ‘spy cameras’ for years. Many of his wife’s and stepdaughter’s friends, as well as people from his family and acquaintances, enjoyed weekends in nature undisturbed. Of course, they didn’t know that they were being secretly filmed by the host.
All images have been analyzed
The voyeurism came to light around the turn of the year, in the aftermath of the exhibitionism that Snelders was guilty of towards his neighbor in Brasschaat. A judicial investigation started and investigators confiscated all his digital media – telephone, laptops, SD cards.
In recent months, Antwerp investigators analyzed the many dozens of secretly recorded images. Snelders also appeared to be secretly filming in his bathroom at home, in his villa in Brasschaat. His stepdaughter, who was still a minor at the time, appears several times.
Size of file clear
The extent of Snelders’ voyeurism is now more or less clear, the judicial investigation shows. The identification of all secretly filmed persons was not easy. And the fuss caused a lot of unrest among everyone who ever spent a weekend in that holiday home. Were they filmed too? And what had Snelders, whom they trusted implicitly, done with those images? It was ambiguity.
Many, as the editors of sister newspaper Nieuwsblad learned, have gone to the police in the past two months to report Snelders. They all wanted clarity as quickly as possible as to whether they were in the images and what happened to them.
“The judicial investigation is still ongoing,” says Antwerp public prosecutor’s office spokesman Kristof Aerts. “The thorough investigation allowed victims to be identified and interrogated.”
Twenty victims
According to our information, twenty victims have now been formally identified. The public prosecutor’s office does not want to provide any information about this, not about the number of people and certainly not about their identities. In addition to his wife and her daughter, these are women from Snelders’ extensive circle of acquaintances. He did not rent the chalet to strangers. His stepdaughter was still a minor when she was first filmed. Her lawyer, Manon Cop, does not wish to comment on the new revelations.
Snelders was officially charged with exhibitionism and voyeurism at the end of last year. He also spent a night in jail. It is now up to the victims to possibly file civil proceedings against him.
According to our information, it is not expected that many additional victims will emerge in the coming weeks and months. An Antwerp investigating judge will continue to work on the case, after which the public prosecutor’s office will draw up a final statement later this year for which specific facts Snelders will have to answer before a criminal court and which (prison) sentence he risks. In all likelihood, this will be because of the two current accusations. At the hearing, the former football commentator will have to confront the women he secretly filmed.
Childhood trauma
Snelders publicly showed guilt when his exhibitionism came to light. He would have pleasured himself forty times while he knew others could see it. “I recognize that a mistake happened. That’s about ten percent of my behavior that I can’t control. I can only hope that I can heal from this,” he told our editors. “My guidance in an Antwerp addiction clinic has started, but it will take time.”
He kept silent about his voyeurism in all languages. Later, when that crime came to light, he responded through his lawyer Sanne De Clerck. “He undergoes intensive psychological guidance, focusing on recovery, taking responsibility for the parties involved and processing a sexual trauma from his childhood.” De Clerck emphasized again on Friday that her client never distributed the images. “It is good that the investigation confirms this and allays the victims’ concerns about this.”
