The Charleroi public prosecutor’s office on Tuesday requested prison sentences of one and two years for a man and a woman respectively for assault and battery, and degrading treatment of five minor children.
The two defendants, R.V. and V.V., were a couple at the time of the events. V.V., the mother of the children, admitted only one scene of assault and battery on one of her daughters. The stepfather confirmed that he spanked four of the victims.
On 8 April 2021, one of V.V.’s daughters, aged 15, lodged a complaint with the police about abuse at the family home. The young teenager, who by then was living safely with her aunt, expressed concern for her siblings, who still lived with the two defendants. She also confided that she had witnessed the parents punching her siblings.
Another daughter later reported that her placement in foster care was due to violence committed by her parents.
The mother, V.V., admitted that she retaliated only once, after being kicked in the stomach by one of her daughters when she had just had an operation. “I retaliated and apologised immediately. But this is the one and only time,” the mother said.
As for the degrading treatment, she denies keeping one of her boys in a cold-water bath and forcing one of her daughters to walk barefoot in the snow in the middle of the night, wearing only a T-shirt and trousers.
R.V., the children’s stepfather, is being prosecuted only for assault and battery. He admits having spanked four of the five children.
A sentence of two years’ imprisonment was requested by the prosecution for the mother, V.V., while a prison term of one year was requested for R.V.
Lawyers for the defence requested probation for both defendants.
Judgment is on 14 March.
