Five years in prison for Brussels Airlines steward who raped traveling companion and ex-girlfriend in Vietnam (Domestic)

The man, KT, had also taken nude images of girls without their consent. The court also made the man available to the sentencing court for five years.

KT worked as a steward for Brussels Airlines in 2017 and met a female colleague. The two hit it off and a relationship developed that the young woman’s lawyer described as “friends with benefits”.

In November 2017, the couple took a trip through Vietnam, which KT considered a honeymoon of sorts, until the young woman made it clear that she did not see the relationship that way at all. After a few days everything seemed to be fine again, but during the night of November 8 to 9, things went completely wrong.

Smuggled mobile phone

KT and the young woman went out that evening and, at KT’s insistence, returned to their hotel room. There the girl called her ex-boyfriend in Belgium. This did not please KT, who became verbally aggressive, smashed her mobile phone and repeatedly punched her in the stomach. He then tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties and threatened to kill her. He also shoved a bottle of water into her mouth and squirted it, nearly choking her. Only after much pleading was she allowed to go to the toilet, where she could cut off her cuffs with a pair of nail scissors and use her smuggled mobile phone to notify her ex-boyfriend in Belgium.

He was able to notify the hotel via the Belgian police, after which a hotel employee came to investigate. The young woman took advantage of this to leave the bathroom and crawl into her bed. But when KT came back to the room, he raped her. She tried to stay strong for the rest of the trip so that KT wouldn’t explode again, and once home she carefully broke off contact. All these years later, she still needs therapy to cope with those traumatic events.

Some time later, KT started a relationship with another fellow flight attendant, and he also allegedly sexually assaulted that young woman. He raped her at least three times. Several times during sex he pushed a pillow in her face until she almost suffocated, and at least once he squeezed her throat during sex until she lost consciousness.

Nude videos

During a search of his home, we found a lot of multimedia material, containing at least 135 photos and at least 20 videos of him having sexual relations, and nude videos and photos of sleeping girls. Only one of those girls could be identified and stated that she had been filmed without her knowledge.

KT’s defense had only pleaded guilty to the nude videos, the voyeurism, and requested an acquittal for the other facts. However, the court firmly dismissed her arguments and ruled that all facts had been proven. Reference was made to the victims’ statements, which were assessed by an expert as authentic and credible, while according to the court there were many clear contradictions in KT’s statement. The text messages, audio recordings and photos on the mobile phone of the girl who was abused in Vietnam also strengthen her version of the facts, the court said.

Manipulative and narcissistic

When sentencing, that court took into account that KT was considered by a psychiatrist to be manipulative, someone with sadistic, narcissistic and antisocial characteristics, who was only interested in satisfying his own desires and reduced women to toys and objects.

The court ultimately sentenced the man in his thirties to a prison sentence of five years, of which 18 months were suspended, and also made him available to the sentencing court for five years. The public prosecutor also requested his immediate arrest, but the court did not respond to this.