Ágnes Pándy was convicted in March 2002 by a jury at the Brussels assize court as an accomplice in five murders of members of her own family. Her father, András Pándy, a Hungarian-born Protestant pastor, was convicted in the same trial of six murders and received life imprisonment. She received 21 years.
András Pándy was born in 1927 in Csap, in Subcarpathia. He settled in Belgium and worked in Brussels as a Protestant minister and religious-instruction teacher. The family lived in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, a district of Brussels.
Ágnes was born in 1958, the eldest of the children of his first marriage. She had two younger brothers. Her father later married a second wife who had daughters of her own, so that the household came to include a stepmother and stepsisters. Her schooling and work history are not on record.
The six victims of the case were, by relationship to András Pándy, two wives, two sons and two adopted daughters. The 48-page indictment set out when each death was alleged to have occurred. Her father's second wife and one of the stepsisters died on the same day in 1986. Her mother and her two brothers died in 1988. The indictment placed the sixth death, of a second stepsister, in 1989. A third stepsister survived an attempt on her life in 1985 and later left Belgium.
The deaths fall into at least two separate periods, 1986 and 1988, with the sixth death placed in 1989. The indictment, which was built largely on her own statements, attributed the deaths of her mother and one brother to Ágnes and the others to her father; at trial she was convicted as an accomplice.
In 1992 Ágnes went to the police and told them what had become of six members of the family. The police filed the case away. Her father told them that she had fallen under the influence of a sect and that her mind was unbalanced, and that her accusations could not be relied on. The case was reopened in 1996.
In autumn 1997 the Belgian police arrested András Pándy; he was detained for questioning in connection with the deaths in the family. Ágnes was also taken into custody that autumn. She confessed that she had taken part with her father in the killings, and her statements were the main basis of the 48-page indictment. Her testimony, as an accomplice, was what brought the case against her father.
The trial before a jury at the Brussels assize court opened in February 2002. The jury had eight women and four men. András Pándy denied everything. His defense argued that he should be acquitted because the deaths of his relatives had not been proved; he said it was for justice to prove that they were dead, and he maintained that they were alive but had not been in touch for years. He was also charged with the attempted murder of the stepdaughter who survived.
Ágnes had confessed, and the dispute in her case concerned her responsibility. Her lawyer argued that she had acted under what he called an overwhelming, irresistible spell cast by her father. The jury considered its verdicts for about six hours and returned guilty verdicts against both.
Ágnes Pándy was found guilty of complicity (accomplice liability) in five of the six murders. She was sentenced to 21 years in prison. She had been the key witness against her father, who received life imprisonment, with security detention to follow.
The sixth murder, for which her father alone was convicted, is the one left out of her conviction. Which of the six it was is not on record.
She served her sentence in Bruges women's prison. By February 2009, at 51, she had been held there for 11 years, and had come through breast cancer in prison. A ruling on early release was then expected within weeks. The result of that application is not on record.
On June 15, 2010 she was released from Bruges women's prison at the age of 50. She was to wear an electronic tag and observe a curfew. Her present home is not on record.
András Pándy died in prison in Bruges, at age 86, in the night from Sunday to Monday, in December 2013. He never confessed. No appeal, retrial or other proceedings involving Ágnes after the 2002 verdict are on record.
Proven by verdict: that she took part, as an accomplice, in five of the six murders of her relatives. Not a conviction: the attempted murder of a stepsister, with which her father was charged; whether she was convicted of an attempt is not on record. Not attributed to her: the sixth death and any other deaths. Unresolved: the exact order of the autumn 1997 arrests (one account has her father taken first, another has her confession leading to his arrest), her year of birth (1958 by one account; her ages in 2002, 2009 and 2010 fit a birth around 1957 to 1959).
1927: András Pándy is born in Csap, Subcarpathia.
1958: Ágnes Pándy is born.
1985: a stepsister survives an attempt on her life.
1986: her stepmother and a stepsister die.
1988: her mother and her two brothers die.
1989: the date given in the indictment for the death of a second stepsister.
1992: Ágnes goes to the police; the case is filed away.
1996: the case is reopened.
Autumn 1997: András Pándy and then Ágnes are taken into custody; she gives statements.
February 2002: trial before a jury at the Brussels assize court.
March 6, 2002: guilty verdicts; Ágnes Pándy receives 21 years, her father life.
February 2009: held 11 years in Bruges women's prison; early release expected to be considered.
June 15, 2010: released on conditions.
December 2013: András Pándy dies in prison, aged 86.