A 19-year-old has been handed a 10-year prison sentence for breaking into the home of an elderly couple and assaulting them, in a violent home invasion that led to the death of a man in his 80s.
The break-in took place in the Flemish town of Wemmel, northwest of Brussels, on 26 July 2018, when the accused and a 16-year-old broke into the home of a couple in their eighties and robbed them of several valuable possessions.
The attackers reportedly rang the bell of the couple's home in Windberg road, at around 8:00 PM and attacked the couple, an 84-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman, beating them up after they opened the door, according to Bruzz.
The perpetrators stole jewels, money and bank cards from the home and fled in the couple's car, a Renault Modus.
The man was admitted to the hospital where he died weeks later of his injuries on 13 August, HLN reports.
Prosecutors were able to identify the pair after analysing surveillance cameras, phone records and cross-checking DNA evidence, leading to their arrest in December 2018.
The 16-year-old attacker was referred to a juvenile judge, and the older one, from Laeken, was charged with violent theft, harming a vulnerable person and unintentional manslaughter and originally faced between 20 to 30 years in prison.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times