The correctional court sentenced a 45-year-old man from Antwerp to a prison sentence of 10 years for the attempted murder of his 14-year-old daughter and torturing his children.
On 8 November 2019, the police happened to be in the street where the family lived to deal with a traffic accident, when a 12-year-old boy called for help, saying that his father was strangling his sister.
When the officers entered the house, the man was kneeling on his 14-year-old daughter. He had tried to strangle the girl with a USB cable and he had also hit her with a broomstick, reports VRT.
The man is said to have attacked his daughter because he thought she had not worn her headscarf at school.
The girl said she was relieved when the police came in. The father had reportedly terrorised the family for years. The girl's mother and the five other children said that they were terrified of him as well.
The man used violence almost daily, they stated, beating them with a stick or belt, shaving their heads and smearing chilli powder in their eyes as punishment, reports a local news outlet.
He was sentenced to ten years in prison, and he has to remain available to the criminal execution court for another five years.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
