Six years' imprisonment upheld for rape committed at Ath
The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal of a man in his forties convicted of raping a fifty-year-old woman at Ath railway station in April 2023.
Six years' imprisonment upheld for rape committed at Ath
A forty-year-old man will continue to serve his sentence after his appeal was rejected by the Court of Cassation. The sentence of six years' imprisonment, imposed for a sexual assault that occurred at Ath railway station on 21 April 2023, is now final.
On that spring day, the man, who was then employed as a surface technician, approached a female passenger aged fifty. He pushed her into a secluded corner and forced her into sexual intercourse, without any visible marks of brutality. The complainant continues to suffer severe psychological consequences as a result of this incident. All treatment costs have been assigned to the offender.
From the outset of the investigation, the man in question claimed the act was consensual. His statements proved incoherent on multiple occasions, however, making his version scarcely credible. Tournai tribunal had initially imposed a sentence of six years' imprisonment. The superior court in Mons subsequently upheld this decision.
Me Ricardo Bruno, counsel for the defence, had filed an appeal before the Court of Cassation, citing procedural defects. He contended that the investigation had been incomplete and that the motivation of the appellate judgment was insufficient, owing to the absence of essential investigative acts. His principal complaint centred on the fact that the judges had taken the defendant's denials and lies as an aggravating factor. The defence counsel pointed out that in Belgium, every accused person may adopt whatever defence strategy of their choice, including denying the facts or making false statements.
The judges of the Court of Cassation were not convinced by these arguments. The appeal was dismissed, definitively sealing the fate of the convicted man. He, already imprisoned, must still spend four more years in detention.
Source: DHNET
Source: DHnet