“I'm hungry”: Man arrested for stealing “whole rows of onions”, wanted for murder in Belgium

Intervention de police MAXPPP – Jean-Marc Quinet

What seemed like a simple case of vegetable theft in a community garden in Décines-Charpieu, near Lyon, took an unexpected turn when a group of amateur gardeners got their hands on a man wanted for murder. This fortuitous discovery took place on Friday, August 23, 2024.

For several months, the members of a community garden in Décines-Charpieu had been suffering repeated thefts of their fruits and vegetables. Tired of these intrusions, these amateur gardeners decided to take matters into their own hands. “He was stealing whole rows of onions, some people were fed up”, one of the market gardeners told Le Figaro, determined to put an end to these thefts.

So, some evenings, several of them kept watch from their gardens, hoping to catch the culprit in the act. Their patience finally paid off when, on Friday evening, August 23, 2024, they caught a man climbing over the garden fence using a cushion to avoid bites. “We saw him arrive with his stolen bike that he took care to tie up, which made us laugh for a thief”, says Brigitte, whose husband participated in the arrest.

Arrest of a fugitive

Once faced with the gardeners, the man did not resist. He immediately returned his bag of stolen vegetables, simply explaining to our colleagues: “I'm hungry”. Quickly subdued by the gardeners, he was handed over to the municipal police. The matter could have ended there, but a few days later, the gardeners were astonished to discover that the man they had arrested was in fact a wanted criminal.

A murderer wanted in Belgium

The man, an irregular Romanian national, was the subject of a European arrest warrant. He was suspected of having committed a murder and a robbery with violence in Belgium in 2019. The victim, Georgette Van den Bogaerde, was found seriously injured at her home in Ghent before succumbing to her injuries a few days later in hospital. Her home had been burgled, and a gold bracelet had been stolen.

The suspect, now incarcerated in Corbas prison, is expected this Thursday before the investigating chamber for a hearing that could lead to his extradition to Belgium. For the gardeners of Décines-Charpieu, the incident remains significant. "At that point, we said to ourselves: fortunately he didn't have a knife", Brigitte recalled to the Figaro, still in shock from this unexpected encounter with a murderer on the run.