Four minors arrested for brutal violence in Mechelen station parking lot

At the beginning of this week, four minors were arrested on suspicion of serious violence against a thirteen-year-old girl. The victim was beaten and strangled for several minutes in early March, and ultimately robbed of her money and mobile phone. Two minors have been placed in a closed institution.

The facts took place at the beginning of March, but the news only now became known. “On March 2, a thirteen-year-old girl had arranged to meet a friend in Mechelen. She was lured to the underground parking lot of the station by that friend and two other young people. There she was attacked by two young men. They had made their faces unrecognizable by wearing balaclavas,” says Kristof Aerts of the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office. “The investigation shows that the victim was beaten for twelve minutes and even strangled.”

The teenage girl was reportedly asked to go shopping in Mechelen, but that turned out to be an excuse to attack and rob her.

The victim was injured during the robbery and told her parents at home what had happened. The police were able to identify four suspects, partly based on surveillance images from the central station. It concerns two girls and two boys between thirteen and sixteen years old.

The four were arrested at the beginning of this week and were brought before the Mechelen juvenile court. “Two minors were placed in a closed youth institution, two others were imposed strict conditions,” the public prosecutor’s office said. (tdk)