The Belgian State has been held liable for the 2019 rape and murder of Julie Van Espen. Her family will receive €1 in symbolic compensation.
Julie Van Espen was killed at the age of 23 by Steve Baekelmans, who had previously been convicted several times for violent and sexual offences.
In 2017, he had been sentenced to four years in prison on rape charges by the Antwerp Correctional Court, but the court did not order his immediate detention – instead, it took 23 months before he was convicted on appeal. That only happened on 26 June 2019, after Baekelmans killed Van Espen.
Her family firmly believed she would still be alive today had Belgium's court system functioned properly. They decided to sue the government, arguing that it had failed her. Her relatives questioned how the court operated and called the long duration of the trial before the Antwerp Court of Appeal a dysfunction.
On Thursday, the Brussels Civil Court ruled to the Belgian state was liable for the rape and murder of Van Espen, the court's press officer Geneviève Seressia confirmed. "The Belgian State must pay the family of Julie Van Espen damages of €1 provisionally," Seressia said.
'Deprived family of chance to avoid loss'
The court noted that mistakes were made in the handling of a previous case against Baekelmans, partly attributable to the executive which failed to fill in staff shortages that contributed to this issue.
According to the court, although there is no absolute certainty that Baekelmans would have been incarcerated on 4 May 2019 and the offences on Julie would have been prevented then. "The erroneous actions of the judiciary and executive were a necessary condition for that loss of opportunity."
However, Seressia did note that the errors have definitively deprived the Van Espen family of the chance to avoid the loss of their daughter and sister. Baekelmans was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of Van Espen on 13 December 2021 by the Assize Court of the province of Antwerp.
