Woman skydiver on trial for murdering love rival

[chobolan]

Woman skydiver on trial for murdering love rival

A woman skydiver has gone on trial accused of murdering her love rival by tampering with her parachute and causing her to plunge 13,000ft to her death.

Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 9:07PM BST 24 Sep 2010

Els Clottemans waits for the start of her trial Photo: REUTERS

Video footage of the skydivers investigated by police in Belgium

Els or "Babs" Clottemans, 25, is alleged to have murdered her married skydiving partner Els Van Doran, 37, in November 2006, after apparently growing jealous that they were both having an affair with the same boyfriend, a fellow parachutist. Parachuting with both women, the lover, Marcel or "Mars" Somers, 25, watched in horror as Mrs Van Doran, a mother with two children, crashed over two miles to her death into a garden in the Flemish Limburg town of Opglabbeek.

The three had taken off from the small aerodrome of Zwartberg on a regular their Sunday skydiving trip. Unlike other jumps, when the trio would hold join a star formation before splitting up to open their chutes at 4,000ft, it is claimed that Miss Clottemans hung back when leaving the aircraft. She allegedly then watched from above as her friend Mrs Van Doren, an experienced skydiver with 2,000 jumps, struggled to open both her main and reserve parachutes.

The fall was captured on the victim's head-mounted video camera and footage of the jump, showing her frantic efforts to open her main and reserve parachutes provided key evidence for police. Detectives found signs that both parachutes had been sabotaged. Miss Clottemans is said to have befriended Mr Somers and Mrs Van Doren in 2004 and used to sleep on a mattress in his living room while he shared the bedroom with the other women.

Then a second affair allegedly began between Mr Somers and Els Clottemans, known as "Babs" to distinguish her from Els Van Doren. At the weekend of the death, both women had apparently spent Friday night with Mr Somers. According to the prosecution, Miss Clottemans, slept in the living room was close to Mrs Van Doren's parachute, which was in the house's hall.

Their jump the next day was postponed from the Saturday until Sunday because of bad weather and Mrs Van Doren went home to her family. Miss Clottemans stayed with Mr Somers. Belgian court psychiatrists have declared Miss Clottemans to be "a danger to society" and to be a "psychopath with dramatic features". The accused, who was released from prison on bail over two years ago, is said by family and friends to acted "mature and calmly" since.

"My client has evolved since her release in January 2008 and does not behave like a psychopath. She started working as a teacher," said Vic Van Aelst, her lawyer. Opening the trial, Mr Van Aelst insisted that prosecutors "have nothing" to directly tie Miss Clottemans to the death. "They have to prove they have something, but they are trying to do it since four years and it is not going very well for them," he said. Miss Clottemans denies the charge.

 

[yellow people]

Love triangle skydive murder trial begins


Love triangle skydive murder trial begins

Belgian Els Clottemans (R) enters the court at the start of her trial at the Justice Palace in Tongeren September 24, 2010. Credit: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

By Philip Blenkinsop
TONGEREN, Belgium | Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:29am EDT

TONGEREN, Belgium (Reuters) - A Belgian woman went on trial on Friday charged with the murder of a fellow skydiver and love rival who plunged to her death after her parachute was sabotaged. Els Van Doren, 38, smashed into a back garden from some 4,500 meters (14,764 feet) in November 2006 because both her main and reserve chutes failed to open after she jumped from a plane with defendant, Els Clottemans, 26, their lover, Dutchman Marcel Somers, and another man.

Clottemans, an elementary school teacher, is accused of cutting through key parts of the parachute system the weekend before the jump to remove her rival and have Somers for herself. Lawyers for Clottemans, who herself only spoke in court to confirm basic details such as her date of birth and profession, issued a statement expressing their firm belief that their client did not kill a woman she regarded as a friend.

In a red top and black trousers and flanked by two police officers, Clottemans showed no emotion as Prosecutor Patrick Boyen read the 68-page indictment. Interest in the case was so great that a live television feed was laid on in a larger room in the courthouse in Tongeren, a town in eastern Belgium. Several police guarded the entrance.

Laying out details of the love triangle, Boyen said that bachelor Somers entertained Van Doren, a married mother of two, most Saturdays and the younger Clottemans often on Fridays. Boyen said Clottemans was an experienced skydiver and would have known how to sabotage a parachute and that she had the opportunity to do so when she and Van Doren were with Somers a week before the fatal drop.

Van Doren's pilot chute, a small parachute deployed to pull the main chute out, was detached from that, while a line that should have connected the reserve chute to the harness was free. Experts ruled that both items had been deliberately cut and that it could been done in just 30 seconds with scissors. Psychiatric experts have identified signs that Clottemans suffers from a psychopathic disorder.

Clottemans' lawyers say that is no hard evidence against their client, whom they say investigators intimidated and belittled in hours of questioning. "She was continually accused of lying by investigators. The investigators had formed their own version of the truth and were no longer prepared to deviate from that." The trial, which is likely to feature video of the fall shot from a camera on Van Doren's helmet, is due to last four weeks.

(Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

 

[singveld]

she is a fighter. do nothing for love or lust.

A WOMAN charged with the skydive murder of a love rival has broken her silence to The Sun.

Els Clottemans is accused of sabotaging both the main AND back-up parachutes of tragic Els Van Doren before a freefall the two did together with the man they both loved.

Mum-of-two Mrs Van Doren plunged 9,000ft to her death. She was wearing a camera which filmed her screaming and panicking as she fell helplessly to earth.

Clottemans had discovered the victim was having an affair with the man she loved, Marcel Simons, before the death flight.

She told The Sun from prison: “I know it looks bad for me because I had a motive but I didn’t do it. I deny it emphatically.”

But Public Prosecutor Dirk Renotte told us: “She had a very important motive.

“We believe she set out to do this so there would be no competition for the affections of Marcel.”
Passion ... parachute club where the lovers met
Passion ... parachute club where the lovers met

Clottemans, 22, a pretty student teacher, was charged with murder last week after a two-month investigation into the death at an airfield near the town of Genk, Belgium, on November 18.

The Sun has discovered that Clottemans tried to kill herself just days before her arrest ? leaving a suicide note saying she wanted to be with her friend.

We also discovered that the death plunge came just THREE DAYS before the victim’s parachutes were due to undergo a routine safety inspection.

Police say that the ripcord which controlled Mrs Van Doren’s main canopy had been sliced in two.

And strips of cloth had been tied around the reserve chute so that it could not be opened either.

Chillingly, the fatal dive began with the 37-year-old victim holding hands in a star formation with Clottemans, their shared love Marcel and one other person.

The friends jumped together through the hatch of a light plane at 13,000 feet.

Seconds later ? when the group were at 9,000 feet ? the recorder on Mrs Van Doren’s helmet captures screams of terror as she breaks away from the others then discovers neither of her parachutes will open.

Wally Elters, a witness at the drop zone airfield, said: “I was working on my plane when I heard someone on the ground screaming and pointing to the sky.

“I looked up and saw a black spot falling quickly to the ground.

“It was wriggling about and it was pretty obvious it was a person. Above it were three people in parachutes coming down slowly.

“Then this person hit the ground. It was an appalling moment.”

Although she was not charged until last week, Clottemans became the prime suspect for the murder fairly soon when police discovered Marcel was having affairs with both women. The three had all met because of their shared love of sky-diving, and belonged to Genk’s Zwartberg club.

Mrs Van Doren began a relationship with Dutchman Marcel several years ago.

They would meet on Saturday afternoons after she had spent the morning working in her estranged husband’s jewellery shop and spend the night together. But the two kept their love a secret ? and when Marcel began seeing Clottemans just a year ago, he made sure neither woman knew about the other.

It appears Clottemans found out about her rival despite Marcel’s precautions ? and police claim it led to the terrible consequences.

Clottemans is being held in Belgium’s Hasselt prison awaiting trial.

In a statement to The Sun, she said of Mrs Van Doren: “We were friends for years and in the same skydiving club. Why would I kill my close friend?

“It must have been someone else but I have no idea who that might be. I can’t point the finger of suspicion at anyone else because I do not know of a motive.

“I am locked up here and do not know if I will ever be freed. I am just praying that the investigators will find the real murderer and release me.

“Either that or they complete their inquiries, find no proof and close the case.”

Mrs Van Doren’s funeral in November was attended by around 1,000 people ? including Clottemans.

She sat in the congregation and listened as the victim’s sister delivered a bitter eulogy. She said: “You did all you could during that final jump to save yourself.

“But someone did not want you to live.”


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article31071.ece#ixzz11yuQcbAk