A teenage suspect who allegedly took part in a gang rape of a 14-year-old girl said the victim appeared to be in pain and “grimaced” during the attack, local media report.
Prosecutors say the girl was abused by a group of 12 boys on three occasions between April 2 and 6 during the Easter holidays, as horrifying new details continue to emerge about the case that has shocked Belgium.
Interrogations of the suspects have revealed that the girl screamed “stop” when the teens attacked her, and a 14-year-old suspect said she “winced” and that he “saw she was in pain,” according to local media. HLN.
The girl also appeared dizzy during the attack, turned pale and her eyelids appeared to close, according to statements.
The main suspect, the girl’s 14-year-old boyfriend, allegedly took the girl with him to a wooded area called Kabouterbos in Kortrijk, West Flanders, Belgium, around 6pm on April 2, after passing by the day at a fairground.
Once there, the boyfriend is said to have raped his young partner in front of others before ‘lending’ her to his friends to sexually assault her as well, while the youngest of the boys, an 11-year-old boy, was used. as a lookout, reports claim.
Prosecutors say the girl was abused by a group of 12 boys on three occasions between April 2 and 6 during the Easter holidays (pictured: the wooded area where the alleged attack took place).
Prosecutors arrested ten suspects aged between 11 and 16 (all, according to local media, children of North African or Somali descent) and detained them for questioning, but new reports say up to a dozen children were involved in the attack.
A Belgian media cites “well-placed sources” Nieuwsblad She described the boyfriend as a “loving” guy who deliberately allowed his friends to abuse his young partner.
‘Love boy’ in this case is a term used to describe human traffickers who typically operate by trying to make their young victims fall in love with them.
But the boy denies having “lent” his girlfriend to the other teenagers, and his lawyer stated that “further investigations are needed to clarify the facts.”
Nieuwsblad said prosecutors uncovered “reprehensible behavior” on the part of the suspects and “acts of revenge,” citing sources close to the investigation who said the alleged perpetrators showed “a complete lack of sense of the rules.”
The girl is believed to have returned to the forest, a popular spot for mountain bikers, where she was raped, tormented and abused by a gang of minors twice while under the “powerful” influence of her boyfriend, local media report.
The group took turns abusing the victim and everyone participated “to a greater or lesser extent,” according to Nieuwsblad.
The victim was allegedly raped by at least four of the boys and touched by others who stood around them in a circle, while others filmed the attacks on their smartphones.
Footage of the alleged attack was also shared on social media, reportedly via Snapchat, an instant messaging app that allows users to easily share photos and videos. None of the group members urged their friends to stop the abuse, sources said.
The investigation has been carried out in the utmost secrecy by the West Flanders public prosecutor’s office to avoid any possibility of the victim’s relatives or the general public knowing the identities of those involved.
Although the alleged attack took place in early April, the girl did not report it for several days for fear of telling her parents and the police. It was not until April 25 that police were able to arrest the suspects.
In total, ten children were arrested. Six of the suspects were placed in a closed institution, while the other four were placed under house arrest.
Since then they have been questioned simultaneously and separately, so that investigators can compare all the statements.
Nieuwsblad, citing his sources, said many of the statements given by the children were contradictory and that several suspects blamed each other.
Some of the six minors held at the institution appeared in juvenile court Wednesday afternoon. Two were reportedly released under conditions.
Nieuwsblad reported that four other minors are now detained, including the 14-year-old boyfriend, who has apparently become the main suspect.
The main suspect, the girl’s 14-year-old boyfriend, is alleged to have taken the girl with him to the wooded area called Kabouterbos in Kortrijk, West Flanders, where she was assaulted by up to 10 boys who reportedly shared images of the attack on social networks
Prosecutors are now working to establish the extent to which each suspect was involved in the attack on the 14-year-old girl, or whether any were a bystander.
Tom Janssens, of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, stated that due to the age of all those involved, little is said publicly about their identity.
He confirmed that ten suspects had been identified and arrested, and that all were minors. “Because the perpetrators are so young, we do not reveal much information about their identity,” Janssens said. The Brussels Times.
According to the boyfriend’s lawyer, his client has denied the facts as they have been reported. “My client also wants the truth to come to light and the matter to be thoroughly investigated,” lawyer Nur Demirtas told local media.
‘He understands that he is now locked up, but this is also traumatizing for him. This is also very difficult for his parents, wealthy people who have tried to give his son a good education. “They don’t understand how this could happen,” Demirtas said.
‘I am also surprised that the suspects in such crimes are becoming younger and younger. “That’s very disturbing.”
Lawyer Kelly De Caluwé, defending a 16-year-old suspect of Somali origin, said the minors “have all been interrogated simultaneously and investigators will now test the statements to uncover the truth.”
“These are horrible events,” he said. ‘The question is how is it possible that these children have lost all sense of rules. What should we do with this?
‘How are we going to solve this? It is a question that must be asked not only to the juvenile judge but also to society as a whole. I have not yet experienced such events in my fifteen years of career.’
Caluwé said his client said things he did not want to say during interrogation and asked for a new examination.
“I asked for a new exam because, due to the language barrier, I was saying things that didn’t match what I wanted to say,” he said, according to Nieuwsblad.
‘For me he is not a rapist. He though he realizes that something very wrong has happened. That understanding comes gradually.’
‘For me he is not a rapist. He though he realizes that something very wrong has happened. That understanding comes gradually.’
Courtrai Mayor Vincent Van Quickenborne said he was shocked when he first learned about the case he had known about behind closed doors “for some time.”
“The prosecution does not allow me to say anything about the facts themselves, but I had known about the investigation for some time,” he said.
‘These are acts of shit for which there are no words. I say this not only as a politician, but also as a father of three young children.’
The girl is believed to have returned to the forest, a popular spot for mountain bikers, where she was raped, tormented and abused by a gang of minors twice while under the “powerful” influence of her boyfriend, local media report.
The criminal age of responsibility in Belgium is 18, meaning that alleged sexual abusers were sent before a juvenile judge and were likely placed in a personal rehabilitation program in youth centers.
But it is possible that the 16-year-old in question could be prosecuted under adult criminal law, given the exceptional nature of the case.
Meanwhile, the victim receives specialized counseling after her terrible experience.
In Belgium it is possible to lock up children up to 12 years old for longer periods if they are found guilty of rape and gang rape, and from 2022, offenders aged 16 years or older who committed such crimes can be tried as adults.
East Flanders Justice Minister Zuhal Demir, who advocated for tougher youth crime laws, said parents of children who commit such crimes “must be held accountable.”
“You simply cannot address this type of violence with lower (sentences),” he said, according to The Brussels Times.
‘These (perpetrators) must be taken off the streets and their parents must be held accountable. Juvenile judges should take greater advantage of the recent tightening of the law on juvenile delinquency.’
On why the 14-year-old girl probably took time to report after the incident in early April, forensic psychology professor Frédéric Declercq told De Morgen: “There is always an underreporting of sexual crimes, whether it is a rape in a group or an individual case. It is a well-known fact that victims often feel more guilty than perpetrators.’
‘In addition, it is very embarrassing to report crimes. What also plays a role, for both male and female victims, is stigmatization. You are no longer who you always were. If you come out, you are a rape victim.’
There will be a hearing in juvenile court on May 24, which will determine what happens to the juvenile suspects.
