A jury has found Chris Vanhaverbeke, 48, guilty of murdering his two daughters and attempting to murder his former wife after the girls were killed at his farm in Oostkamp in November 2022.
Vanhaverbeke, a potato farmer, was convicted over the deaths of Maud, 8, and Ona Vanhaverbeke, 5, who died from suffocation. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of their mother, Astrid Gadeyne, 40.
The defence had asked for an acquittal on the attempted murder charge relating to Gadeyne, but the jury rejected that argument.
Emergency services received a call at 18:11 on 16 November 2022 from Gadeyne’s lawyer. During a phone conversation, Vanhaverbeke had threatened to take his own life and to take the children with him.
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Police found the bodies of Maud and Ona that same day. The investigation later established that the girls had been killed around midday by suffocation.
During his first police interview, he immediately confessed.
He told investigators that the break-up with his wife was at the root of the crimes. However, he denied trying to kill Gadeyne by sabotaging an electrical cable.
The sentencing phase of the trial is due to begin on Friday morning.
