Two men from Brussels were taken to court over a series of violent robberies with a homophobic motive between April and June 2024, according to De Standaard.
The primary suspect, R.R. (20), tricked homosexual men in Brussels by inviting them on a date in a park in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek through the dating app Grindr. Two others (one of them a minor who has not appeared in court yet) followed him and assisted in physically and verbally assaulting the men, stealing their phones and credit cards, and emptying their accounts at a cash machine.
In front of the court, R.R. defended by claiming that he could not differentiate between homosexuals and paedophiles at the time of the incidents, and that he intended to catch out predators. "I had the wrong way of looking at things back then. I was influenced by Tiktok and social media. Now I know better," he said at the hearing.
His co-defendant A.T. (19) took part in three of the eight attacks and told the prosecutor that he was under the impression they were only targeting paedophiles and doing the police a favour, according to his lawyer. “I have no problem with homosexuals, I even have homosexual colleagues,” he later added.
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The victims' lives were deeply affected by the incidents. Four of them took part at the hearing, testifying against the perpetrators. One of them said, “The trauma is very intense, I now live completely isolated." He is also scared of answering the phone on the street since the events, fearing for his safety. Another victim lost seven teeth in the assault.
The suspects are still awaiting their verdict. R.R., detained in Haren prison, had been living on the streets until his arrest, addicted to drugs and alcohol and suffering from mental health issues, according to his lawyer. The defence originally requested a five-year suspended sentence, while the public prosecutor proposed a 15-year sentence. A.T. is set to get six years in prison. The third offender, whose identity has not been disclosed, will appear in court at a later date. The scale of his involvement is also uncertain.
Equal opportunities centre UNIA states that 136 similar cases happened over the last year alone. The institution also filed a civil suit in this case, aiming to provide more safety for Belgium's LGBTQ+ community in the future. “It is important for the future safety of the LGBTQ community that the hate motive based on the sexual orientation of the victims is also withheld,” lawyer Olivia Venet argued.
Venet, who sternly dismissed all excuses from the defendants on perceived misunderstandings about paedophilia, warns about a growing number of homophobic attacks. "We are facing a wave of hatred in which the number of violent incidents has doubled in recent times.”
