Jonny Van Den Broek, the 27-year-old man accused of murdering Shashia Moreau in what Flemish media dubbed "the Pokemon murder" was asked to show how he strangled his victim during his trial on Tuesday, resulting in a member of the jury becoming ill.
Van Den Broeck is accused of murdering his victim during sex after inviting her to his apartment in February 2017. He said Moreau had shown “surprised” at his advances but later engaged sexually with him, but several reports on Belgian media say he raped Moreau before strangling her to death.
As Van Den Broeck has insisted for more than two years that he did not remember anything about the murder, a reconstruction has not been possible before. It was only on the first day of the trial that he admitted that this was a lie.
Using a doll, he showed how he put his hands around Moreau's neck, and squeezed. "I did not have the impression that she was in distress. I had my eyes closed while we were having sex," he said, reports Het Nieuwsblad. "It is possible my hands moved a little. A doll like this does not move, of course," he added.
A member of the jury became unwell, so the trial was suspended for a while.
According to the medical examiner, Moreau died from strangulation. "Whether this happened by hand or with something else, I cannot deduce," the examiner said, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. The defendant said he used his hands, but as he owned a special band for strangulation sex according to an ex-girlfriend, some parties think he used that and threw it away afterwards.
In response to a question from a juror, the medical examiner also stated that an injury to the victim's leg could mean that force had been used to hold open her thighs, meaning the sex might not have been as voluntary as Van Den Broek said it was.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
