A well-known businessman is under investigation in Antwerp for possible offences of rape, voyeurism and deliberate beating, Het Laatste Nieuws reports.
The man's lawyer confirmed that an investigation is underway, but stated that her client denies the facts. Everything allegedly took place in the BDSM sphere.
Seven women testified to HLN about their experiences with the businessman, whom they met on the BDSM platform FetLife. The testimonies outline a pattern where the man, despite clear agreements beforehand, allegedly crossed their boundaries and ignored stop words.
One of the women told on FetLife about her experience with the man, and that put the women in contact with each other. One of them eventually stepped up to the police.
The suspect, through his lawyer Sanne De Clerck, denied the allegations to Belga. The man is currently sitting at home with an ankle bracelet. "Several allegations have meanwhile already been refuted by objective evidence," De Clerck stated.
"We will not conduct this trial in the media, but where it belongs: in court. For now, my client only wishes to emphasise that the contacts took place in the specific context of BDSM and, in doing so, he respected the mutually made agreements and boundaries of the other. We cannot rid ourselves of the impression that the accusations are part of an orchestrated damaging operation."
The women questioned for a long time whether they had the right to speak, considering they had initially agreed to BDSM activities with the man.
Professor of sexual criminal law Liesbet Stevens (KU Leuven) points out that since 2022, the law is even more clearly defined, and consent is required for every single sexual act, which can even be withdrawn during the act. Moreover, in the BDSM sphere, a lot of value is placed on making consent explicit, it sounds.
