The Namur Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday requested a three-year suspended prison sentence for a 37-year-old man charged with downloading over 75,000 child sexual assault files between 2022 and 2024.
The defendant, who was identified through the IP address he used, was held in pre-trial detention for 84 days following his arrest.
In court, he claimed he fell into an addiction. “I wanted to view a certain type of files (Asian teenage girls). Therefore, I had to download many files to find them,” he stated.
“When I got home, I spent up to an hour a day downloading, sometimes compulsively," the defendant added. "I tried to stop on my own several times. There were instances when I downloaded files, only to delete them immediately without viewing them.”
His lawyer argued that the risk of reoffending was low and is seeking a probationary suspension of the sentence, noting that his pre-trial detention helped him realise that the files involved child victims of sexual abuse.
The court’s decision is expected on 25 June.
