Free Republic

A 26-year-old Belgian schoolteacher has been found guilty of killing her romantic rival by sabotaging her parachute in a skydiving love-triangle. Els Clottemans on Wednesday sat stony-faced as the 12-member jury's verdict was read in the northeast Flemish town of Tongres at the end of a trial that captivated Belgium. Clottemans, who claimed her innocence again before the verdict, faces between three years to life in prison. The sentence will be decided in a separate hearing. The jurors replied "yes" to the question of her guilt and as to whether the crime was premeditated, judge Michel Jordans said in a...

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.

A married woman who was having an affair with a fellow skydiver plunged 13,000ft (4,000m) to her death after her love rival and best friend tampered with her parachute, police say. Els Van Doren, 37, fell to earth in a garden in front of a group of onlookers. Els Clottemans, 22, has been charged with her murder. Minutes earlier the pair had joined hands in a star formation with two other skydivers including Ms Clottemans’s boyfriend, a Dutchman named only as Marcel, who police say was having an affair with Mrs Van Doren. While he and Ms Clottemans broke away...