An elderly man from Leopoldsburg, a town in Limburg Province, faces a five-year prison sentence, a five-year suspension of his civic rights and a five-year referral to the criminal court for sexually abusing his foster granddaughter, a minor.
The defendant, who is alleged to have assaulted and raped the girl in August 2023, denied the allegations in the Hasselt Criminal Court on Friday.
The child's foster mother went to the police after she returned home from a sleepover at her grandfather's house in a state of complete hysteria. The child said she had been forced to touch her grandfather's genitals and that he had done the same to her.
The man said the child had gone to lie in bed with him because she felt uncomfortable. He also stated that the child had followed him when he had to go to the toilet.
An ex-partner of the accused had told the victim's foster mother that the man, who is in his sixties, had abused two nieces in the 1990s.
Referring to detailed statements the child made during an audiovisual interview and to the special context of the disclosure, the Prosecutor asked the court to consider the facts proven. "The child should have experienced a safe environment while staying with her grandfather," added the prosecutor, who also requested a restraining order.
The defendant had told the child that the incident had to remain their "little secret.”
The defence criticised the investigation, particularly the manner in which the child's audiovisual interview was conducted, and called for an acquittal
The court will deliver its verdict on 14 November.
