A former barman in the Cimetière district of Ixelles was acquitted of accusations of raping a young woman by the Brussels Criminal Court on Wednesday.
The events took place on the evening of 7 August 2021. The woman was seated in the bar where the accused was working as a waiter. She lodged a complaint against him after waking up naked in bed the next day with no memory of the previous day.
The young woman's counsel did not accuse the defendant of being the one who had placed the drugs in her glass, but argued that he must have noticed her state of vulnerability.
The defendant, aged 32, had admitted to having had a sexual relationship with the young woman who had joined the civil action against him, but had denied having drugged her without her knowledge.
The Public Prosecutor demanded that the defendant be found guilty of raping the victim, who was a civil party, and of raping another young woman. But according to the court, there was no evidence that the victim was drugged and could not have consented to the sexual act.
Nonetheless, the Public Prosecutor also stated that the 32-year-old had been the victim of a media lynch mob. His name and address had been leaked on social networks, forcing him to live as a recluse.
In August 2021, several female students reported on social networks that they had been drugged and then raped by this waiter at a busy establishment in the Cimetière d'Ixelles district. These reports gave rise to the balance ton bar movement.
As the investigation progressed, however, most of the complaints were dropped. Only two finally went to trial.
