The 22-year-old man accused of kidnapping, abusing and killing a nine-year-old boy in Limburg province at the beginning of June this year has admitted to the crime during a remand hearing.

Donny M, who has prior convictions for abusing boys, was arrested just days after the boy, Gino, disappeared while out playing in Kerkrade.

‘What happened, what I did, is terrible. It never should have happened,’ M told the court. He also admitted sexually abusing the boy and giving him drugs, including MDMA and a sort of Viagra.

During police hearings M reportedly said he killed the boy in the bathroom by smothering him with a cushion, but the cause of death has not yet been confirmed by the pathologist.

M will be examined at the Pieter Baan psychiatric institution next month, ahead of the main trial, which is due to start on December 5.

Wednesday’s hearing in Maastricht was adjourned for a time after the boy’s mother stood up and began shouting at the defendant. She was removed from the courtroom after failing to obey the judge’s instruction to sit down.