Friday, January 15, 2010

The ugly side of human nature

People should say "chocolate" or "beer" when they think of Belgium. But they think "Dutroux". They think "Flanders versus Wallonia". And nowadays, they think "serial killer", they think Ronald Janssens.

Nobody ever expected this high school teacher to be a monster. His pupils adored him, his colleagues thought of him in a positive way, his friends liked to have an outing with RJ. But there was also another side to him. A side that you could read about in books or watch in a movie. Just look at him.. He looks as normal as any John, Dick or Harry. I don't even want to post his picture on my blog, because I don't want to give him any credit. He doesn't even look like a murderer! But then again, what does a serial killer look like?? Isn't that scary? That your very own neighbor is a beast? That the man next door kills you and your boyfriend, because he's sick of getting bullied? Because that's what he says.. That Kevin Paulus bullied him once too much. So he and his girlfriend - Shana Appeltans - didn't deserve to live any longer.. Hello??? What was he thinking? That he could get away with it? Okay, he got away with his previous murder of Annick Van Uytsel. Or at least he must have thought he was way too smart for the rest of world. Nobody was going to figure out he was a serial killer. But he miscounted there. They did catch him. Too bad they couldn't catch him any sooner. Because he had been profiled before, in the murder of Annick Van Uytsel in 2006. They didn't think much of it, so he was never questioned. They could have caught him back then. It would have saved the young lives of Kevin and Shana..

How many more secrets will come bubbling up in the weeks to come? There are some more unsolved murders in our small country. Think of Kim and Ken Heyrman, think of Katrien Decuyper, Tamara Morris and several other young murdered women. He confessed having raped and assaulted many young women, all the way back when he was still a student. But did he also murder some of his victims? It's sad, it's just so sad.

To be continued.


No comments: