A man (28) who tried to murder an emergency doctor from AZ Turnhout hospital in Flanders received a ten-year prison sentence on Wednesday.
On the evening of 20 August 2019, the 28-year-old man lured the emergency doctor into his apartment in Turnhout by calling the emergency services and pretending he was having an epileptic fit.
When the emergency doctor arrived on the scene, the 28-year-old man immediately attacked him, reportedly using a razor-sharp Rambo knife, Gazet Van Antwerpen writes.
"This is an attack on an essential service of society; on people who go out to save lives," the emergency doctor's lawyer, Paul Van Rompaey, explained to Nieuwsblad.
“My client has 15 years of experience as an emergency doctor and can handle the most stressful situations. But because of this he has been home for four months. The damage is considerable. I don't know if he will be able to work as an emergency doctor in the future," Rompaey added.
In court, the 28-year-old man claimed that he had never intended to injure the emergency doctor, but that he had been struggling with depression and wanted the emergency doctor to kill him.
However, the court decided that the attack was premeditated and the 28-year-old man received ten years in prison; the sentence that had been requested by the Antwerp public prosecutor.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
