Belgian court praises Dutch police in case of toddler allegedly killed by babysitter

Dean Verberckmoes - Credit: - License: All Rights Reserved Crime Saturday, 10 October 2026 - 16:45

The court of assizes in Ghent on Friday expressed its appreciation for the Dutch police investigation into the abduction and death of the Belgian toddler called Dean. Four officers from Zeeland-West-Brabant and Oost-Brabant police units delivered an extensive presentation of their work in the high-profile case before the court.

“I was impressed by your investigation,” the president of the Court of Assizes said after the presentation. “It is a very tightly conducted investigation - highly businesslike, yet at the same time very humane - I believe we can learn something from you in certain respects, without in any way wishing to diminish the work of your colleagues in Belgium.”

On January 17, 2022, the Dutch investigation led to the discovery of the child’s body. Dean died as a result of severe abuse allegedly inflicted by 39-year-old Dave De K., the central figure in the jury trial that began this week. Also standing trial with him is his Dutch ex-girlfriend, Romy W.

Dutch police received the first report concerning the disappearance of Dean and De K. on 16 January 2022. The suspect has admitted that, during a fit of rage in his car, he repeatedly struck the little boy, whom he and W. regularly looked after as his mother was being treated for depression at a facility.

According to De K., Dean died hours later, after De K. had driven with him to the Netherlands. He left the body in the bushes on the island of Neeltje Jans in Zeeland.

The report from Belgium was especially alarming because De K. had previously been convicted of the fatal abuse of a very young child. A large-scale investigation in the Netherlands led to the arrest of the Flemish suspect on January 17 in the Utrecht village of Meerkerk, following a tip from a resident about suspicious behavior to a so-called urgent safety interrogation, the purpose of which was to locate the missing child as quickly as possible.

The interrogation continued in the car en route to Neeltje Jans after De K. indicated that he had probably left the boy there. At the hearing in Ghent, the Dutch officers showed, among other things, helicopter footage of the search conducted on Neeltje Jans. The presentation also included a photograph of the deceased child at the location where he was found.

Reporting by ANP and NL Times