The Ghent Court of Appeal sentenced a 53-year-old man to 20 years in prison – the maximum possible sentence – for the assault and rape of a student in Ghent.
On 26 November 2023, the victim was cycling home at night when a man knocked her off her bike, beat her and raped her near Ghent-Dampoort station.
The young woman, who is a student, called for help but the attacker grabbed her by the throat to stop her.
The perpetrator is a Romanian national without a residence permit. He was quickly identified by DNA analysis and arrested one week after the incident.
'Repeat predatory rapist'
Following his arrest, police discovered that the man had already been convicted for the same crime in Romania. He raped his underage daughter in 1991, 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2019. The incident in Ghent occurred six months after his arrival in Belgium.
He was initially sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Court of First Instance, but the Court of Appeal then increased this to 20 years. The court feared that the accused would continue to pose a threat to society once released.
"The accused is a repeat predatory rapist, for whom long prison sentences have had no remedial effect. He poses a serious and imminent threat to public safety, particularly to women," the court ruled.
The court also stripped him of his civil rights and ordered him to pay €10,000 in compensation to the victim.
