The public prosecutor on Tuesday asked the Third Correctional Chamber of the Hainaut Court of Appeal to sentence a 31-year-old rapist to ten years in prison for sexually abusing six teenage girls.
The man had originally been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment and five years’ probation with the Sentence Enforcement Court, but appealed.
The defendant met the girls on social networks, obtained scantily-clad or nude photos of them, then blackmailed them. He would meet each of the girls in Jurbise and demand fellatio, threatening to publish the photos on social networks if they refused. He also filmed each encounter without the victim's knowledge, then gave her money.
The defendant, who spent four months in pre-trial detention, denied the charges for a long time, stating that the victims had consented, but later confessed.
He also asked the court, through his lawyer, to reduce the sentence.
The defendant, who was not under arrest at the time of sentencing, did not want to go back to prison, arguing that he manages eight employees in his company. He disputed the label of sexual predator, saying instead that he “did something stupid.”
The judgment will be delivered on 3 October.
