Murder trial of disabled Liege teen halted over measles contagion fears

Murder trial of disabled Liege teen halted over measles contagion fears
The verdict of five youth accused of torturing and murdering a disabled teen is set to de delivered on Thursday. Credit: © Belga

Monday’s session of the ongoing murder trial of a disabled teenage boy in Liege has been suspended over fears of a measles contagion, with the five teenagers on trial currently quarantined in the vicinity of the court.

The hearing, which was set to begin at 9:00 AM on Monday, has reportedly been put on hold after a measles outbreak was detected in Lantin, which is located to the north of the Walloon city of Liege, where the hearings are being held.

The five accused of torturing and murdering 18-year-old Valentin Vermeesch are currently being held inside a police van in the vicinity of the court, and they are said to be wearing medical masks to prevent the spread of the highly infectious disease, according to La Dernière Heure.

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Reports say that court officials and lawyers are not yet present, but that the hearings have been put on hold while a decision is made on whether the accused lawyers could give their clients’ testimonies, which the court was set to hear on Monday.

The group of five are on trial for kidnapping and cruelly torturing Vermeesch for hours, before throwing him into the La Meuse river while he was still alive, but had his hands tied.

The court on Monday was set to hear the testimonies of two of the accused, Loïck Masson and Killian Wilmet, after attending to the chilling accounts of Alexandre Hart and Belinda Donnay, the pair suspected of throwing Vermeesch into the river.

Gabriela Galindo

The Brussels Times


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