Vanhaverbeke Family Declines to Testify at Brugge Trial

On the fourth day of the assize trial of Chris Vanhaverbeke (48) in Brugge, the defendant’s parents and sister did not appear to give evidence as scheduled, submitting medical certificates instead. Their written police statements were read aloud to the court, in which relatives said they could not bear to see him again. The case concerns the November 2022 killing of Vanhaverbeke’s two daughters, Maud (8) and Ona (5), and an alleged attempt to murder his ex-wife, Astrid (40).

Family Absent, Statements Read

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, the parents informed the court several weeks ago that they would not testify, while the sister only submitted her certificate the morning of the hearing. The witnesses were formally waived, and their police interviews were read out in full. VRT NWS reported that defence lawyer Kris Vincke described the family as “shattered” by what their son and brother had done, noting that the sister had initially planned to attend but became “deathly afraid” of the intense public interest in the case.

“It’s a shame, but understandable,” Vincke said. “It was emotionally too difficult for them. They too are victims and have lost their grandchildren or nieces.” He added that although the family “clearly distance themselves from the terrible acts Vanhaverbeke committed, he remains their son and brother.”

The parents now visit Vanhaverbeke weekly in prison; the sister visits occasionally. Immediately after the crimes, the family had no contact with him.

A Father’s Account

In his police statement, read aloud in court, father Frans Vanhaverbeke described a son who was a hard worker and deeply attached to his children, but also closed-off and unable to talk about his feelings. “I visit him once a week in prison. We don’t talk about the children, because then Chris always starts crying,” he said. “I don’t understand it, this should never have happened. I still hold it against him.”

The father recalled that he had expected Chris and the girls for their usual Wednesday meal of fries and frikandellen, until Chris called around 13:30 to say they would instead go to the friterie and the cinema. In reality, the girls had already been dead for hours by the time of that call.

Testimony read to the court also revealed how sharp the family’s initial reaction had been. On the night after the crimes, as police delivered the news, Frans said: “Let them do with him what they want, and send him to the dungeon. That’s not normal anymore, that’s murder.” Sister Nele said simply: “I never want to see Chris again. I don’t know how to tell my three children about this.”

Vanhaverbeke appeared to be crying as his father’s statement was read, wiping both eyes, according to reporters in the courtroom.

Witnesses Describe a Controlling Man

Other witnesses on Tuesday painted an unflattering portrait of the defendant. Lucien Vanderschaeghe, who sold the farm to Vanhaverbeke and his ex-wife and also leased land to them, said the sale initially went well but that he later wanted out of the arrangement. “If you gave him a finger, he had to have a whole arm,” Vanderschaeghe told the court.

He recalled encountering Vanhaverbeke on the day of the crimes, around midday, when the two chatted about potatoes. Vanderschaeghe said Vanhaverbeke mentioned wanting to see his children more often — unaware, as Vanderschaeghe noted, that the girls were already dead. “After that visit I already sensed that he would pull off some stunts,” he said.

Another witness, Annelies Van De Woestyne, who knew Vanhaverbeke through her ex-husband, recounted a history of controlling behaviour. “If I went with him, it always had to be on his terms. He exercised a kind of power over me. If I said ‘no’ when he wanted to kiss, he did it anyway,” she testified. She said he contacted her in January 2022 — while still with Astrid — asking pointed questions about her own divorce, and that he called her again on the afternoon of the crimes, saying he wanted to see his daughters more.

Rear neighbour Janick Simoens described the morning Astrid left, when he found a farewell note on the table and Vanhaverbeke said the break-up was his fault. “I felt he wanted it to be made right again, but he said his father-in-law stood between them,” Simoens said. He also described discovering a tractor left oddly in a field on the fatal Wednesday, and a rope and a fallen ladder, that night — leading him to believe Vanhaverbeke had taken his own life. “I didn’t know they were looking for a murderer; I just thought they were looking for Chris.”

The Case Against Vanhaverbeke

Vanhaverbeke admits killing his daughters but denies attempting to murder his ex-wife. Prosecutors allege he sabotaged the fuse box in the holiday cottage on the farm, loosening the central feed cable so that anyone touching it risked potentially lethal electrocution — an act, they argue, intended to lure Astrid. He maintains he only wanted to obstruct the search for the girls.

According to VRT NWS, the defendant told investigators he decided to kill the girls two days before the act, after a family court hearing denied him a week-on/week-off arrangement. “I was going to lose everything. Enough was enough,” he said. Forensic psychiatrists described revenge and punishment as the motives, characterising him as a jealous, egotistical man with a “narcissistic core” who viewed his partner as property. They said he took from his ex-wife “her dearest possession,” and revised their earlier risk assessment upward, concluding he was “more dangerous than we thought.”

He faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment. In the afternoon, Astrid and her parents were expected to testify, with the ex-wife supported by victim assistance services throughout the trial.

What to Watch

The Brugge assize court has been packed daily, with dozens turned away from the roughly 100-seat hall. The central legal question remains premeditation — whether Vanhaverbeke killed his daughters in an impulse or as a planned act — which will shape the jury’s verdict and any sentence. Also unresolved is the attempted murder charge, which the defendant continues to contest. The trial is due to continue with further testimony this week, and a jury of seven women and five men, selected on 21 September, will ultimately decide his fate.