Knife drawn in La Louvière café after refusal of drink, sexagenarian before court
A man in his sixties is appearing before the Mons criminal court for threatening a customer with a knife. He risks six months in prison.
Knife threats in La Louvière café: defendant denies allegations
On 27 April 2025, an evening escalated in a café in La Louvière after an evidently intoxicated customer was refused a drink. According to DHnet, police were alerted to a fight involving a drunk customer, identified by the assumed name Victor, a man in his sixties.
Upon the officers' arrival, several customers pointed to Victor as the instigator of the altercation. A knife lay at his feet. A search subsequently revealed a second knife concealed in one of his pockets.
The companion of the bar owner, questioned by investigators, explained the sequence of events: Victor wished to order another drink, but had already had too much to drink. The refusal that followed allegedly triggered the sexagenarian's anger, who then allegedly drew a blade to threaten the man.
Victor for his part provided a radically different account. He contested any threat and claimed that the knife found on the ground did not belong to him. The second knife, the one discovered in his pocket, allegedly had an innocuous use according to him: cutting fruit. An explanation received with scepticism by the police.
Prosecuted for threats and carrying weapons, Victor appeared before the Mons criminal court. The public prosecutor's office requested six months in prison, seeking the application of the former Criminal Code, judged to be more favourable to the defendant.
Victor's Belgian criminal record is clean. His lawyer, Ms Samanci, relied on this factor to argue in favour of a lenient measure. She specified that her client had indeed been sentenced abroad, but that this dated back more than twenty years. Since then, the sexagenarian had led a life without incident, until an illness forced him to cease all professional activity.
"He showed no aggression at the moment of his arrest. He does not have a problematic profile," argued Ms Samanci.
The defence requested a simple suspension of sentencing, a measure that would allow Victor to avoid an entry on his record whilst taking account of the seriousness of the facts. The court will deliver its judgment at the end of November.
Source: DHnet