The body of a missing four-year-old boy was found: "Killed by the babysitter"

A Belgian child was most likely killed by his babysitter in the Netherlands.

The body of 4-year-old Dean Verberckmoes was found in the province of Zeeland (in the southern Netherlands) after a man had been arrested earlier in connection with the case.

The disappearance of the child, which occurred five days ago following a probable kidnapping, had triggered a vast search operation in the Netherlands and Belgium. Then the discovery in Neeltje Jans, an artificial island in the eastern Scheldt, a popular destination for Dutch tourists.

The police after the arrest of Dave De Kock, a 34-year-old babysitter, had activated a kidnapping notice by releasing to the public a photo of the child, who was last seen last Wednesday in the company of this man. De Kock was supposed to take the child to his grandparents on Thursday, but he never did so and for this reason the mother reported the disappearance of her son.

During the night, the police searched the man's home in Saint-Gilles-Waes and questioned his partner, who is now in custody because of the contradictory statements he allegedly made to the investigators. De Kock cared for the baby and had also hosted him at her home in the past.

The victim's mom said the 34-year-old regularly took care of her children and "when Dave babysat for them, they always told me they had played with him."

The Belgian prosecutors on De Kock said that he had previously been sentenced to ten years in prison for ill-treatment that led to the death of a two-year-old child. He finished serving his sentence in December 2018.

(Unioneonline / L)