Court Says She Rigged A Rival's 'Chute To Fail

A woman involved in a romantic triangle was found guilty of murder in Belgium last week for rigging her rival's parachute to fail.

Els Clottemans, a 26-year-old schoolteacher was reportedly stoic as the verdict was read. The sentence can be anything between three years and life, according to the International News Service AFP.

Clottemans was accused of sabotaging the parachute of Els Van Doren when the man they both were seeing, Marcel Somers, appeared to choose the older Van Doren over Clottemans. All were avid skydivers, and were on a jump together in 2006 when the incident occurred. An investigation showed that straps for Van Doren's chute had been cut, but there was no hard evidence linking Clottemans to the crime. She did, however, reportedly have access to Van Doren's parachute the night before the fatal jump when Somers had chosen to sleep with Van Doren over Clottemans.

Clottemans has proclaimed her innocence since her arrest in 2007. However, Prosecotor Patrick Boyen said Clottemans is a "phychopathic killer" who wanted an exclusive relationship with Somers. He said that was the motive for the premeditated killing, and the jury apparently agreed, finding that Clottemans had the technical knowledge to damage the parachute, and was "the only suspect left" with such knowledge and apparent motive.

FMI: www.belgium.be/en/justice/index.jsp