Two students raped in student room after party: “I behaved like a dirty animal” (Ghent)

A 21-year-old man had to answer in the Ghent court for the rape of two students. “They are two parallel stories. The girls were both drunk and vulnerable,” the prosecutor said.

“I didn’t immediately have the impression that I was doing anything wrong,” the 21-year-old young man said in court. However, the two victims had experienced it differently. He had to answer for the rape of two students: in March 2022 and in May 2022.

The stories are quite similar. The first victim was drinking alcohol in the young man’s room with some friends. The victim became tired and fell asleep while the rest of the group headed to the Ghent Overpoort.

When the young man returned to his room, he lay down next to her and groped the woman. “She pushed his hand away, but the gentleman continued,” the prosecutor said. “The next day he sent her a message via Instagram. He apologized and said he was acting like a dirty animal.”

Second victim

The victim did not file a complaint after apologizing, but told him that nothing like this should ever happen to any other girl. Two months later, on the night of May 17 to 18, something similar happened to another woman from the group of friends. After a party she went home with the suspect because she was very drunk.

“The girl went to sleep and the gentleman asked if he could lie next to her,” the prosecutor outlined. “When she woke up, the gentleman had assaulted her. He had his hand in her pants and had penetrated her with his fingers.”

Vulnerable

When the first victim heard that the young man had killed a second victim, they went to the police together. “I’m sorry that I hurt people, but I didn’t get the signals that they didn’t want it,” he said in court.

The judge emphasized that the victims were sleepy, drunk and vulnerable. The young man risks two years in prison with a postponement of probation. He will be sentenced on May 17.