The Bruges magistrates' court has ordered a 32-year-old Ostend man who, for months, tormented a woman who, he believed, had been chosen by God to become his wife, to pay €3,000 in damages to the victim and €500 to her then companion.
The judge also ruled that the defendant should be interned for harassment and death threats but did not order his immediate detention since he had not committed any new offences in recent months.
The bizarre story began in August 2021, when the defendant sent a Facebook friend request - accompanied by bizarre messages - to a 27-year-old woman who grew up in the same neighbourhood as he. The recipient ignored the request.
A few months later, the man began flooding her wall with posts which, according to the public prosecutor's office, were aggressive in tone and sometimes pornographic.
When questioned, the defendant claimed that God had spoken to him and that even if the young woman “played hard to get,” she would eventually become his wife.
Despite several invitations to stop, the defendant continued. He even went so far as to threaten the victim's companion, warning him that he might “beat someone to death again.” In February 2012, the defendant had violently beaten a man in his sixties, who then had a heart attack and died. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment, half of it suspended.
A psychiatric expert concluded that the defendant suffered from mental disorders and drug and alcohol dependence. The public prosecutor requested that he be committed.
The defence requested a suspended sentence, with conditions, arguing that its client had kept on the straight and narrow since his release “even if it is not always easy.”
Speaking one last time during the hearing, the defendant claimed that the victim had been sending him secret messages. “A spirit spoke to me, that's how I came to know Jesus,” he added.
The judge ruled that the defendant should indeed be committed, but did not order his immediate detention since he had kept a clean record in recent months.
