VIDEO"Regret but no remorse"
According to Mr Haentjens, Kim De Gelder didn’t have a “murder plan”.
“He had printed out the addresses of crèches, but why he chose Dendermonde remains a mystery."
De Gelder is reported not to remember anything of what happened on Friday morning and it is not yet clear whether he heard “voices” that told him to carried out the brutal attack on the crèche.
Jaak Haentjens says that his client has expressed regret for what happen.
However, as De Gelder is unable to remember what he did, he is unable to show any real remorse.
As a child, De Gelder is reported to have been lonely and withdrawn.
He suffered from severe depression and at one stage even heard voices in his head.
"There are indications that he suffers from a mental abnormality, but we will have to await the results of psychiatric reports.” Mr Haentjens told journalists.
"He suffered from severe depression when he was fifteen and sixteen and he behaved strangely."
"His parents had wanted him to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital when he was eighteen."
"However, he received out-patients’ treatment from a psychiatrist and it was judged not necessary to admit him to a psychiatric unit.”
Kim De Gelder moved out of the family home last October.
Since then he has only contacted his parents by telephone or text message.
Mr Haentjes concludes that "The issue is simply one of whether or not he was aware of his actions."
"Did he hear voices that made him do what he did?"
"If he acted in a psychotic state then he should be sectioned.”
