The Turnhout Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced a man from Grobbendonk to 10 years’ imprisonment plus five years’ probation for the attempted murder of his ex-girlfriend.
The events took place on 29 June 2022 in a horse pasture in Lille, Antwerp Province, where the man first quarreled with his ex-girlfriend, then returned armed with a shotgun, stood in front of the victim and fired, hitting her in the neck.
The defendant denied homicidal intent but, according to the court, both intent and premeditation were established. “If you fire a shot at a person 1.5 metres away, you know that the shot is potentially fatal. It was purely due to chance that the shooting did not have a fatal outcome,” the court stated.
Two minutes after opening fire, the man, who is in his fifties, went back to the victim and apologised.
The court found that premeditation had been established, since the defendant had gone home to get his shotgun after the initial argument, before returning to the scene.
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