The Dinant magistrates' court sentenced a man to 20 months imprisonment with a three-year suspension on Wednesday.
The man has been charged with assaulting and harassing his partner and degrading treatment towards his seven children between June 2015 and June 2020. An additional ten-month prison sentence, also with a three-year suspension, was imposed on him for offences related to the illegal possession of weapons.
The case was initiated following a complaint lodged by the eldest child, born in 2002. "She went to the police to denounce the treatment to which she had always been subjected and which had become habitual," explained the Namur Public Prosecutor's Office. The young girl had even been shot with an air rifle.
The father also abused his six other children with regular blows and insults. "One day, he held a knife to one of his children's throats because the child took too much sauce during a meal," the Public Prosecutor added.
"For me, a slap or an insult was normal. I didn't see the harm. A therapist has since made me realise that I was reenacting what I had experienced myself," stated the accused, who has requested a work sentence due the incidents taking place several years ago.
