Lawyers for Mohamed Billali, accused of killing Phat Banh Gia on 29 May 2016 in Brussels, pleaded on Wednesday at the Brussels Court of Assizes for the acquittal of their client on grounds of self-defence.
Lawyers Yannick De Vlaemynck and Jonathan De Taye agreed to his conviction for theft.
Mohamed Billali, 30, is accused of attacking Phat Banh Gia with intent to kill on 29 May 2016 in Brussels, with the aim of facilitating a robbery or ensuring its impunity.
Counsel for the accused considered their client's version of events to be plausible: Bilali said the victim had started to take off his trousers while he was sleeping. He (Billali) had pushed him away and a fight ensued, during which the victim took a knife and tried to stab him. Bilali then managed to disarm and stab the other man.
This act was an act of self-defence, according to the two criminal lawyers. "The truth may not please you, but it must be told," concluded De Taye.
On the other hand, the prosecution contended that the accused went to the victim's house with the specific aim of robbing him, not because he was looking for a place to stay for the night, as was contended. He then killed him, took various objects and fled.
On 31 May 2016, the lifeless body of 44-year-old Phat Banh Gia was discovered with several stab wounds in the bathroom of his flat on Avenue Louise in Brussels. A homicide investigation was immediately opened.
By analysing surveillance camera footage, the investigators discovered that, on 29 May, shortly before 4 a.m., the victim was in the company of an individual at the intersection of Plattesteen and Rue du Marché au Charbon, in the city centre.
The two men then entered a taxi on Rue du Lombard and arrived at the victim's address a few minutes later. The visitor was seen leaving the building shortly before 5 a.m.
The identity of the visitor was established after multiple investigations via Interpol and police services in France, Hungary and Algeria: Mohamed Ramzi Billali, born in Algiers, Algeria, on 12 April 1992, was known for several acts of theft under two false identities in France.
He was finally arrested during a customs check at Basel station in Switzerland on 12 November 2021, a little more than five years after the events.
