Seynabou Diop, the Senegalese prostitute linked to the death of cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke, claims to have played no role in the death of former Belgian cycling icon despite being charged with theft.
“Frank was a charming and funny man. But he drank a lot. Very soon we had finished a bottle of champagne and a bottle of whiskey,” she told Beglium’s Het Laatste Nieuws in Senegal.
“He began by telling me how pretty I was. He wanted to marry me and bring me back to Belgium, he said. If I went with him I would also become a star. I thought he was an important photographer,” she said.
“When we arrived in the hotel La Maison Bleue, Frank was extremely drunk. He got sick, threw up and I cleaned it up. Sex was not in the question. Around half past 5 in the morning I left. When I returned in the afternoon his door was closed. I went into his room with the hotel manager and there we found his lifeless body. Next to his bed lay his bag with personal items and medication. And also a syringe and coffee spoon,” Diop said from prison in Thies. She has been charged for the theft of his cellular phones.
“I really did not do that. I’m not crazy, stealing from a dead tourist! I think he lost his cell phones when he fell into the taxi,” she claimed.
Autopsy details revealed that Vandenbroucke died of a double lung embolism superimposed by a pre-existant heart condition that might have been triggered by the use of alcohol or drugs.
Velonation.com had early reported that Salobe Nginngie, the investigation’s leading Prosecutor, clarified that Vandenbroucke was being regarded as a “drug user” because of the syringe found in his room."Indeed, the autopsy also revealed that many were injection wounds in his left arm," explained Ngingie.
Vandenbroucke’s body has been returned to Belgium where it will undergo further examinations and should provide more insight into the causes of death and the possible role of alcohol or drugs.