It was a Saturday like any other: May 7th. Zakia is shopping with her family when she receives a call that upsets her forever. His sister-in-law, in tears, announces the death of his brother: Ishmael. “I can’t explain to you the state I was in for 20 minutes. In the car, my niece, Ishmael’s daughter, was with me. She started crying in the car because I think she had understood. We arrived at my brother’s home in Vilvoorde. His wife was in an unspeakable state”, remembers Zakia.
Ismaël is a butcher and works in the slaughterhouses of Anderlecht on the day of the tragedy. An altercation breaks out with one of his colleagues. The two butchers come to blows.
In the space of barely 3 seconds, the suspect sticks his knife into Ishmael’s abdomen. The father of the family collapses.
The whole scene is filmed by surveillance cameras. The alleged perpetrator does not deny the facts. And yet, he is no longer in prison but under an electronic bracelet. Zakia does not understand. “Not even a month after the facts. I question justice at this level. I do not pass judgment, I just want to have answers to be able to explain to the little ones, to his wife and to my mother”, says the victim’s sister.
He is obviously devastated
At this point, the alleged perpetrator is charged with murder. His lawyer tells us that he is not free but is under house arrest. The decision was taken by the Council Chamber for several reasons. “There is the profile of my client. He is a person who has never had a single history and never a single problem with the law. And then, of course, there is the start of the investigation. The chance that the ‘we have in the file is that everything was filmed’, indicates Master Sokol Vljahen. Before adding: “He is obviously devastated by the pain that the victim’s family may have felt because he is someone he had no problem with.”
The alleged perpetrator could be released on conditions depending on the outcome of the investigation. He currently faces a 30-year prison sentence for murder. But his lawyers ask to reclassify the facts as involuntary blows and injuries resulting in death, without intention to give it.