A court in Senegal has sentenced the husband of a Belgian woman to 20 years of hard labour after he admitted killing her and secretly burying her body, HLN reported.
According to the Flemish daily, 72-year-old Josée Tielemans, from Anderlecht, had moved to Senegal in 2014 after falling in love with Assane Sarr, a construction worker 25 years her junior. The couple lived in Thiès, around 70 kilometres east of Dakar.
HLN reports that friends and relatives had repeatedly warned Tielemans that the relationship may have been financially motivated, but she insisted she was genuinely in love with Sarr. The case came to light after the Belgian woman disappeared in October 2019.
Investigators reportedly later alleged that Sarr had fatally headbutted Josée during an argument linked to her inheritance before secretly burying her body in an attempt to hide the crime.
Following an investigation by Senegalese authorities, the victim's remains were exhumed under the supervision of prosecutors in Thiès and transferred to hospital for an autopsy. Faced with the evidence, Sarr reportedly confessed to the killing.
He has now been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison with hard labour. Sarr's first wife was also prosecuted in the same case on suspicion of complicity after investigators claimed she had witnessed the events and failed to intervene.
However, the court ruled there was insufficient evidence against her and acquitted her.
