The Bruges criminal court did not punish the 23-year-old man from Tielt (West Flanders) who admitted to having exchanged nude photos with three underage girls he met as a youth camp counsellor in Croatia. The defendant (W.B.) was also accused of rape and violation of sexual integrity.
The father of one of the victims went to the Ghent police on 17 September 2022. He was accompanied by the integrity contact person from Kazou, the youth work organisation of the Christian Health Insurance Fund.
On 26 July 2021, the then 14-year-old girl claims to have been raped at a camp in Croatia. Using an excuse about a game at night, the counsellor had allegedly lured her into his room. The man also allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to the girl and three other minors in the months following the camp. W.B. reportedly encouraged girls aged 14 to 16 to take and send intimate photos.
One of the victims had already filed a report on the Kazou site in January 2022. According to the civil party, W.B. had kissed a girl and groped the buttocks and breasts of several girls.
Acquitted charges
W.B. admitted to sending and asking three girls for nudes. However, he was acquitted for all charges.
The defence successfully requested an acquittal for rape. The court determined that the acts could not have been committed on 26 July, as after a boat trip, the group had stayed on a deserted island. The court further noted that there were no witnesses or medical findings of the alleged rape. In her initial report, the girl herself did not mention it either.
The defendant was also acquitted of violating the sexual integrity of the girls. The court considered his "cuddling" to be "forward", but not criminal behaviour. W.B. had also allegedly kissed a 15-year-old girl on a date in Deinze after the camp. The touching during the kiss was also labelled as "forward behaviour".
Additionally, the camp counsellor was acquitted of stalking the three girls. The judge established that the minors themselves had also sent many messages. One indicated that she had found it difficult to stop.
Clean criminal record
In its verdict, the court took into account W.B.'s clean criminal record and his sense of guilt. "Punishment would have a perverse effect on his social rehabilitation and on the preservation of his integration into society," it said. In addition, reference was made to his studies and his work.
If W.B. commits any new offences in the next three years, he can still be punished for the nude photos and will have to pay more than €700 in damages to the civil parties.
