The Namur public prosecutor’s office called on Thursday for 15 years’ imprisonment for two men charged with torture, rape, inhuman and degrading treatment, and unlawful confinement, and 10 years' prison time for a third defendant.
The events took place on 5 August 2022, between 2:54 a.m. and 4:05 am. The victim of the abuse, which was filmed by the defendants, finally took refuge in a grocery store near Boulevard Mélot at around 7:30 am.
She explained that she had fallen prey to a settling of scores during the night while staying with a friend, the third defendant in the case.
The victim, held against her will, suffered lacerations and stab wounds. She was raped with a piece of wood and burned on her body with a hot plate.
Fifteen years’ imprisonment and five years’ probation were requested for the two male defendants, one of whom had already been sentenced on 12 May 2022 to a 40-month suspended prison term for attempted murder.
Ten years’ imprisonment and five years’ probation were requested for the occupant of the apartment, who had failed to intervene and even encouraged her accomplices.
Counsel for one of the two men asked the court to impose a “single-digit sentence” on his client, who had confessed to the acts after seeing the videotape.
The female defendant’s counsel pleaded for her charges to be reclassified as culpable abstention and refusal to render assistance. He requested a suspended sentence for the time exceeding the 14-month pre-trial detention already served.
Judgment will be handed down on 16 November.
