A young man was sentenced on Wednesday by the Verviers Criminal Court to three years’ imprisonment, with two-thirds of the sentence suspended.
The man, aged about 28, could have received up to five years’ in prison after being found guilty of raping his wife, whom he had met in Tunisia while the woman was on holiday there. They had married quickly in Tunisia before returning to Belgium.
At around 10 p.m. on 21 April, the woman, aged about 54, stopped a police patrol and complained that she had been raped and beaten by her husband. She showed a number of injuries, including bruises, consistent with her statements.
When questioned by the police, the husband categorically denied the rape and explained that it had been a matter of sexual relations between spouses. He repeated these explanations in court, where he played down the facts, saying that he had “given his wife little slaps to control her when she threw a hysterical fit after taking cocaine.”
Arrested since 26 April, the defendant was also accused of harassing his wife from Lantin Prison.
At the hearing, he admitted that he had called her on several occasions because he needed money. He also explained that he had given her number to other inmates who had subsequently made phone calls to her.
The court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, two-thirds of it suspended on probation.
