Sexual touching of his daughter at age 8: father already convicted of rape tried in Charleroi
A man already sentenced to ten years in prison for rape of his stepdaughter is appearing in court for sexual touching of his own daughter and violence against his children.
Already convicted of rape, he faces charges of sexual touching of his younger daughter
Placed in emergency foster care four months ago, a 12-year-old girl eventually disclosed to her foster mother the sexual violence she said she had suffered at the hands of her father. DHnet reports that the incidents allegedly began when the girl was just eight years old.
The young victim declared that she had suffered sexual touching from Djamel, her father. "He showed me pornographic videos and asked me to do things. I didn't want to, I said no," she told police. The assaults took place in the bedroom or in the living room. Valérie Lagneaux, the victim's special guardian, clarified that the girl was sent by her mother to wake her father in the morning: "He showed her his intimate parts, asked her if she wanted to kiss him on the mouth. It stopped as soon as he went to prison."
A serious prior conviction
This is not the first time Djamel has faced justice. On 12 January 2022, he had been sentenced to ten years in prison for multiple rapes committed against his stepdaughter. His partner Sabrina, mother of that first victim, received the same sentence, having been found guilty as a co-perpetrator of the acts.
Climate of terror in the family home
Beyond the sexual touching, the prosecution also accuses Djamel of creating a climate of violence within the household. According to the children, the father did not hesitate to strike his four children and stepdaughter with a wooden stick, a slipper, or a rolled-up newspaper, mainly on the lower legs, in the event of poor grades or when a child dared to answer back to him. "It was often the boys who got it, especially one of them," added the special guardian.
The defendant denies, his partner admits
Currently held in Ittre, Djamel, in his fifties, denies all the charges against him. He claims he has "never struck his children" and maintains that his daughter "was manipulated" by her foster family. "Look at what I did for them. Why don't you see the positive? I took them to Paris," he said in court.
Sabrina, for her part, is being prosecuted for failure to assist persons in danger with regard to her five children. She adopts a different defence and admits she did not keep her children safe. "I was not aware of the sexual touching. The situation was really complicated at home. There were beatings, once a week," she said — despite the fact that she had sent her young daughter into her husband's bedroom.
The prosecution's submissions
Substitute Garcez, representing the prosecution, sought a sentence of forty months in prison against Djamel and eighteen months against Sabrina. The two defence lawyers pleaded for acquittal. Sabrina's lawyer insisted that her client was herself a victim of the climate of terror created by Djamel, which would explain her failure to respond to the violence.
Source: DHnet