Survivor confronts rapist in court

Sabine Dardenne sits in the Arlon assize court beside one of her lawyers, Jean-Philippe Riviere, yesterday for a new session of the trial of Marc Dutroux. PHOTO: EPA

Belgium's hated man, the convicted child rapist Marc Du-troux, insisted yesterday that he was protecting a schoolgirl from being killed when he abducted and serially abused her, as he clashed dramatically with his victim in court.

The former electrician, on trial over a horrific spate of killings in the mid-1990s, spoke out after 20-year-old Sabine Dardenne asked him why he did not hand her over to the alleged pedophile ring he claims was behind his actions.

"I have acknowledged my mistakes in this affair. I did not give her because I knew that she was going to be killed. When I stay with someone for a time, I end up becoming attached to them," he explained coldly.

Dardenne, appearing in court again a day after confronting her former tormentor face-to-face for the first time, reacted with barely disguised contempt to the claim.

"I am supposed to say thank-you, if I understand correctly," Dardenne replied, before asking presiding judge Stephane Goux to "make him be quiet."

Dutroux on trial with three others including his ex-wife over the series of abductions, rapes and murders of girls in the mid-1990s which convulsed Belgium and shocked the world.

Dardenne 12 years old when she was abducted near the southern town of Tournai on May 28, 1996. She was found on August 15 in a cellar of Dutroux's house in the southern city of Charleroi, along with Laetitia Delhez, who had been held for six days. Delhez was to give evidence later yesterday.

Dutroux, 47, said at the start of his trial last month that he abducted Dardenne on behalf of former businessman Michel Nihoul, who is also in the dock with him.

Dardenne, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Dutroux, on Monday gave the court a shocking account of her 80 days of sexual and other abuse at Dutroux's hands.

Dardenne her composure after an emotional start, asking Dutroux in a steady, challenging voice: "Why did you not liquidate me?"

"I acknowl-edge that I abused her. But for me there was never any question of liquidating her," Dutroux said on Monday.

Dardenne how the manipulative Dutroux made her believe he was actually protecting her from a "wicked chief" who wanted to kill her. Dardenne said Dutroux convinced her that her parents had abandoned her after refusing to pay a ransom.

She said she even thanked him when stepping out of the concealed cell into the arms of a police officer on the day of her rescue.

Eight-year-olds Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune allegedly died of starvation in Dutroux's squalid home near Charleroi while he was serving a prison sentence for a vehicle crime. It is alleged that two Flemish teenagers, An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks, were also murdered. Dutroux blames his fellow defendants for their deaths.

Testimony the two surviving victims is seen as crucial to an agonized and unfinished debate over whether the defendant was a "lone predator" or was part of a wider pedophile network, possibly involving leading figures from Belgian politics and society.