The Ghent Correctional Court has given a 44-year-old Briton of Afghan descent a two-year suspended prison sentence for various sex offences and for aiding human trafficking.
The man was in contact with three unaccompanied Afghan refugees, all minors, whom he induced to lewd acts and prostitution. He also distributed images of minors being sexually abused and helped to smuggle one of the minors to the United Kingdom on a rubber boat.
The facts came to light after the departure of one of the unaccompanied minors from the Eeklo asylum centre on 1 August 2022. The defendant was registered as a contact for the boy, but did not cooperate when called. “Further examination of phone records also link the defendant to an unaccompanied minor Afghan refugee who has been staying in a reception centre in Bruges since early February 2023," and is still in Belgium, the court stated in a press release.
Cellphone records, WhatsApp messages and Snapchat communications showed that the defendant wanted to have sexual relations with the minors. “There are also indications that sexual acts did take place" between them, the court said.
When questioned, the defendant denied the facts and said the messages were “jokes." The minors also denied the allegations and did not want to be questioned as victims,” the court reported in the press release.
Cell phone tracking revealed that the accused went to northern France together with one of the minors in early October 2022, and returned alone to Antwerp later that day, according to the court. Further investigation shows that they travelled to Calais with a view to crossing over to the United Kingdom, it added.
