Cases from some other European countries and from British colonies can also be mentioned. Although Ducpétiaux primarily discussed the mental health aspects on these crimes, primarily murders, executions in such cases could still occur in his home country of Belgium. That happened to Pierre-Joseph Janssens. After he had been sentenced to forced labour for life in Brussels August14th1854 he uttered to his guards and the police that he would not be in prison for the rest of his life; soon they would hear of him, he would commit a crime and his head would roll at the scaffold. After contemplating to attack a judge when giving a testimony he decided to kill his sister Caroline Janssens. One reason for this decision, according to the prosecutor, was a longing for revenge on her for her testimony against him at the assizes. Janssens asked his sister to visit him in gaol before he was transported to prison. When meeting her on October 19th 1854 he tried to kill her with a knife. She was badly hurt but survived.635 Pierre Joseph Janssens was sentenced to death and executed in Brussels on January 2nd 1855.636 On the morning of his execution several motives of thought seem to have affected Janssens. He observed a, for the time and place, normal Christian preparation for death such as confession, Mass, and communion. The same theme was also present for example when he told the governor of the prison that he would not forget him when he was in heaven. He also talked, however, much about how his sister and the chief public prosecutor in Brussels, the procureur général Charles de Bavay, through their acts had caused his execution.637 Two days before his execution in Brussels in 1848 for another crime, a triple murder, François Rosseel had told the prosecutor that when he had been a soldier, he and another soldier had planned to murder a captain, but the project had been hindered by the captain being moved. Other states different realities and reactions 635 A Nothomb: Acte d’accusation…Pierre-Joseph Janssens… 7 November 1854 vol 580, Archives de la cour d’assisses du Brabant, AR. 636 Gerlache 1914 p 37 sq. 637 La Belgique Judiciare 1855 col 31 sq, Le Bien Public 4 January 1855. 181
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