Five years requested for man charged with raping daughter

Five years requested for man charged with raping daughter
Credit: Belga

Prosecutors on Friday requested a five-year prison sentence for a father facing charges in the Namur Criminal Court of rape with violence and indecent assault on his daughter, who was a minor at the time of the abuse.

A sentence of one year in prison was requested for the victim's mother,  the wife of the defendant, for culpable abstention.

The court also ordered the father to pay a fine of €1,000.

The defendants deny all  charges against them.

In 2015, one of the couple’s sons revealed that his two sisters had been raped. One of the victims refused to discuss the matter and it was only in 2022 that the second one finally agreed to testify.

The victim’s lawyer is asking for a provisional sum and a psychological assessment of her client, for whom “a reconstruction process” is beginning. She spoke of a family “withdrawn into itself,” in which the father acted “like a dictator”.

“The girls had to wear miniskirts, he kissed them on the mouth," counsel for the plaintiff said. "The five children had to wash naked in front of everyone, even when there were guests, in the kitchen sink. The couple talked about sex in front of the children. My client mentions rapes that took place in the car, on the marital bed. My client’s brother saw the defendant rape her when she was 8 years old, in 1996.”

The deputy public prosecutor also referred to the unhealthy climate that reigned within the family. “The father was aggressive and dictatorial, advocating a harsh education. The mother acquiesced and beat the children, who sometimes had to stay outside in the cold, in their underwear, on the gravel, with clogs on their feet," he said.

"They had an unhappy childhood and all left, some even before they came of age. Indecent assault, rape and attempted rape of others were also reported but could not be established.”

The defence lawyer pleaded for the defendants to be acquitted, arguing that the case was bloated and full of doubts.

Judgement is on 28 April.


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