BELFAST – The four suspects who have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Mr Pierre de Necker (24), have been released. They were never formally charged.
The town’s police spokesman, Sgt Kwapa McDonald, said their statements were taken and handed over to the state prosecutor who will decide whether they will be prosecuted.
She confirmed the Volkswagen Golf, in which De Necker had been an occupant on the night of the attack, had been reported stolen. McDonald added that one of the four suspects is its owner.
On Tuesday Lowvelder reported on the attack on Friday night. De Necker had put fuel in the car at the Shell Filling Station and left. He was reportedly followed by four vehicles with 12 occupants in total who, after he had been surrounded in a cul-de-sac in Section 2, proceeded to assault him with sticks and bricks.
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His father, Mr Lion de Necker, alleged that one of the attackers sent a photo of his badly assaulted son to her brother at Shell. An employee of the filling station saw the photo, recognised Pierre and alerted Lion. Pierre was taken to the local hospital where he was declared brain-dead and died the following day. Lion uploaded the photo on Facebook “for the world to see”. Ms Adriana Stuijt also uploaded the photo onto Censorburgbear Reports and labelled the incident as a “hate murder”. This post was shared more than 5 000 times.
Stuijt phoned Lowvelder on Wednesday, requesting the publication refrain from publishing the De Necker family’s particulars, claiming that the family is being threatened by the suspects. “This was a hate crime,” she reiterated. “The family cannot even bury Pierre on their farm,” Stuijt alleged. She also warned this journalist to be “careful”.
Lowvelder tried to reach Lion for comment. His cellphone was off.
