The accused appeared before the court via the summary procedure. On September 28, a loud argument broke out at his home. The man in his forties wanted to check his 18-year-old daughter’s mobile phone, but she did not agree. “He then hit the victim’s head against the wall. Resulting in a bump,” said the prosecutor.
He didn’t like that his daughter had posted a Tiktok video of a dance on which men his age gave enthusiastic comments. He minimized his statement to the police and kept it to a ‘pat’. However, the officers noticed other things in the girl, who had a panic attack. The man also appeared to have a very controlling attitude towards his wife and daughter.
The prosecutor talked about discriminatory facts, motivated by the fact that the victim was a woman. After the blows, his wife and daughter went to a refuge in Ghent and then found shelter with her parents. When they also made it clear that they had to listen to the man of the house, they moved back in with the accused.
No Belgian laws
The prosecutor spoke of an urgency to provide security and demanded 10 months in prison and a 400 euro fine. “If the gentleman is willing to learn how to deal with women in a modern society and everyone has an equal place within the family, a postponement is possible under certain conditions.”
“Why don’t you hit the men sending the messages to your daughter with their heads against the wall? Your daughter is doing nothing wrong”
Right
Against the defendant
The victim’s lawyer requested provisional compensation of 2,500 euros for the daughter and 500 euros for the mother. “It’s cynical. You must listen to your husband, says her grandfather. In his interrogation, the accused stated that he was Turkish and did not follow Belgian laws,” the lawyer criticized.
Men in speedos
And then the judge’s reprimand had yet to come. “It is clear to a blind person. According to you, all a woman should do is listen. Why don’t you hit the men sending the messages to your daughter with their heads against the wall? Your daughter is doing nothing wrong. It is the women who have to be submissive so that those perverted men would not send messages, according to you. In your culture, a woman may only sit at the pool covered in plastic with only her face visible. Because men in a speedo with their legs wide open wouldn’t be able to contain themselves otherwise. If a man gets turned on by a photo on Tiktok, then he has a problem and he needs to work on it. Your daughter is a young woman and she can do everything that is allowed within public order.”
The defense, through lawyer Charline Froyen, tried to argue that the father judged from a pedagogical point of view and that no blows were administered. An acquittal was requested. “I just wanted to warn my daughter,” the defendant made another attempt. It seemed like a futile effort. “You live in Belgium in 2023. If you want to introduce your ideas from 100 years ago here, then you don’t belong here. Men and women are equal here,” the judge concluded.
Verdict on December 13.
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