The public prosecutor requested, on Monday, before the sixth correctional chamber of the Hainaut court, an eight-year prison sentence against a sixty-year-old prosecuted for rape and indecent assaults committed on minors, including the grandchildren of his wife. companion over whom he had authority. The trial was marked by high tensions between the parties and a police intervention.
The defendant disputes the facts, although the numerous victims gave parallel accounts. He recognizes, at the very least, small pats on the buttocks brought in an innocuous way. He evokes a plot launched against him since his move to Chimay.
The plaintiffs gave testimony in court, protesting against the defendant’s denials. One of them addressed the defendant, evoking very serious facts in a difficult and violent social context.
The latter remained unmoved, although verbally threatened on several occasions by the dads of alleged victims. One of them, moreover, had to be controlled by the police during an interruption of the hearing.
The public prosecutor took over the statements of the alleged victims and indicated that the defendant was the subject of an expertise and the expert did not find any pathology of a sexual nature. However, a follow-up was offered as part of a probation, but the Crown did not request it, as the defendant is in denial. “The facts are extremely serious, during a long period of offence, and there is no questioning of the person who was considered the grandfather”said the deputy public prosecutor.
The sexagenarian appeared for the first time in his life in court. His defense evokes a cabal orchestrated by the family. “There is a leader among the siblings and the complaints began to fall when the defendant and his partner decided to move to Chimay. They were no longer going to be able to look after the children”said Me Leernaerts, defense lawyer.
The lawyer examined the credibility assessments carried out with the children who were allegedly victims of sexual acts. “There is a large number of statements from alleged victims, but it must be put into perspective, my client’s partner does not believe him capable of committing such acts”continued the lawyer who pleaded the acquittal.
The judgment is expected at the hearing on April 4.