Alexandre Hart, one of the five defendants on trial for the torture and murder of a disabled teen, has been described as a “psychopath” by medical examiners.
A report put together by psychiatric and psychological experts and submitted to Liege’s criminal court says Hart “hides a perverse and dangerous personality," and warns that he is at risk of acting out on it again.
Hart, now 21, is one of five people on trial for the 2017 murder of Valentin Vermeesch, a mentally handicapped 18-year-old whose body was fished out of a river in April 2017 after he was reported missing for a week.
The group of five kidnapped and cruelly tortured their victim him for hours, and he was later thrown into La Meuse while he was still alive, but hand-tied.
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The report says Hart is capable of manipulating and twisting reality to achieve his means and to convey a positive image of himself.
Hart, who was 19 at the time of the events, is also described as being “unable to show empathy” and capable of " making others appear responsible for his own actions.”
“There are no affective or social traits in him,” one psychiatrist reportedly said during the hearing. “His malice is manifest and impulse-driven.”
Hart, who exhibited violent behaviour and an “explosive personality” throughout his childhood, was prescribed medication in 2007 to “control his aggressive impulses," according to French-language daily Le Soir.
During the trial, ongoing for two weeks, it was recently revealed that Hart, alongside fellow-defendant Belinda Donnay, had already cruelly mistreated another victim.
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
