Clown arrested for Mother’s Day murder of girlfriend
A CLOWN and his yodelling sidekick, stars of the reality TV show Belgium’s
Got Talent, have been arrested for the brutal murder of a mother of three in front of her children, after a rooftop stand-off with armed police.
Kevin Lapeire, a winner of a prize for the best clown in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, entertained hundreds of sick children in the guise of his alter ego “Doctor Aspirin”.
But it is claimed the 31-year-old was unable to get on with the three teenage children of his 47-year-old girlfriend, named as Caroline D in Belgian press, leading to their break-up a few days ago, Belgian media reported yesterday.
It is alleged Lapeire roped in Dietwin Haegeman, 38, whom he manages and who appears in shows as “Clown Tobi”, to take revenge in an attack that was broadcast live on Facebook. Haegeman is better known in Belgium as “Dietwin the Yodeller”, a lederhosen-clad performer, who has released apres-ski themed yodelling pop singles.
The pair are alleged to have broken into the family home in Oudenberg, near Ostend, on Sunday night. They are accused of tying up the 12-, 15- and 17-year-old children who it is said they terrorised through the night before killing their mother in front of them with a knife.
Belgian media speculated the ordeal was filmed. Lapeire, who waited until Belgium’s Mother’s Day to launch his attack, reportedly told the terrified children: “I am no longer a clinic clown but a crimi-clown. That’s how I will become famous.”
“I am a monster. I know that,” he laughed before phoning their school to say they would be late on Monday.
Lapeire and Haegeman separately fled. Their victim’s body was found in the garage by emergency services. The children were in an upper-floor room.