True Crime Belgium: The Apprentice Dahmer Trigger warning: violence and body mutilation.

This is the second case of cannibalism in Belgium that I am archiving, excluding prehistoric instances.

December 1994, in the Impasse Demeuse, a winter day like any other in this rather quiet neighborhood of the city of Liège.

Guillaume Potiez did not live permanently with the victim, but he had been staying at his home for a few days at the time of the tragedy.

The house located in the Impasse Demeuse in Grivegnée was occupied by the victim, Philippe van der Straten-Waille.

The murder took place following a particularly violent argument: An altercation broke out between the two men regarding the geopolitical situation in Rwanda.

In 1994, Rwanda was the scene of one of the fastest and deadliest genocides of the 20th century, claiming more than a million victims in just 100 days (from April 7 to July 17, 1994). Guillaume Potiez, born in Burundi, could not bear his friend's remarks on the subject.

During the dispute, Potiez grabbed a heavy copper candlestick present in the room and violently struck the victim on the head several times.

From anger, from rage, an outburst of violence and for the victim, fear, pain, and perhaps even incomprehension… Once his friend was on the ground, the assailant attacked him relentlessly, also using a kitchen knife to deliver fatal blows.

Subsequently, he proceeded to engage in anthropophagous mutilations, removing flesh from the victim's body to consume it. From massacre to… madness? Cannibalism is one of the greatest taboos… how does one arrive at such a point?!

The murderer confessed to having acted under the influence of "Lucifer," claiming to have been manipulated by the demon.

Upon the arrival of the police forces, they witnessed the horror… the victim's body lay in the apartment, mutilated, and pieces of flesh had been cut away.

Guillaume Potiez's trial never resulted in a standard criminal conviction, as the defendant was found psychiatrically unfit to be held responsible for his actions.

The judicial procedure revolved around the following elements: Insanity at the time of the events: Psychiatric evaluations conducted during the investigation quickly concluded that Guillaume Potiez was suffering from particularly severe mental disorders at the time of the crime.

His statements claiming to have acted under the orders of "Lucifer" were part of a deep psychotic delusion.

The application of the Social Defense Act: Due to this state of insanity, the Belgian justice system could not send him before a Court of Assizes to be tried as a conscious criminal. The Liège Council Chamber therefore ordered a measure of internment.

Placement: He was placed in a social defense facility (a secure psychiatric institution) in order to receive appropriate care while protecting society, given his extreme dangerousness. I have found no recent information stating whether he is imprisoned or free, alive or dead…

This bloody news item has remained in the annals as one of the rare official cases of anthropophagy that occurred in the Liège region.

And thus, Belgium does not judge cases of cannibalism; it classifies them as incurable psychiatric cases.