A man (72) appeared in court this week for shooting a student in the neck with an air rifle. The student was seriously injured and had to undergo five hours of surgery to prevent her from ending up in a wheelchair.
In August 2022, the student was quietly studying on her terrace at home in Keerbergen (between Leuven and Mechelen) when she heard a gunshot. Immediately afterwards, she felt a shock go through her body.
"I slumped in my chair and could barely move. My arms were tingling, my ears were ringing and I felt a stinging pain in my neck," she testified to Het Nieuwsblad at the time. "When I touched my neck, I felt my hands getting wet. Then I saw that there was blood on them."
She then cycled to her family doctor, who advised her to continue treating the wound at home. However, her parents were concerned about the wound and the amount of blood, and they took her to the hospital.
There, scans were made, which showed several pieces of the projectile. She had to undergo surgery immediately: during the five-hour procedure, neurosurgeons removed tiny pieces of lead from her neck. "According to the doctors, I was very lucky. One of the bullet fragments was close to my spinal cord. I could easily have ended up in a wheelchair."
'Nothing to do with it'
While the Leuven Public Prosecutor's Office immediately opened an investigation in August 2022, it remained a mystery who had fired the shot. It was not until a year later, when another incident happened on the same street, that the police were able to identify a prime suspect.
On 13 July 2023, a neighbour heard another shot and saw W.M. (72), a former paratrooper living on the street, standing on his roof. In his hand, he held a dead pigeon, which he had shot himself.
The neighbour immediately made the connection with the events of a year earlier and called the police. They carried out a spontaneous search of W.M.'s home. He was arrested and admitted that he had bought weapons and ammunition.
He said that he did not have that weapon a year earlier – but this turned out to be a lie: W.M. already had the air gun during the events of a year earlier, the Public Prosecutor's Office established. Immediately after the events in the summer of 2022, the man had also been questioned by the investigators, but they did not find the weapon at the time.
"If I had said then that I had a weapon, I would have immediately made myself a suspect," W.M. explained in court on Wednesday. "I sometimes fire a shot to scare away pigeons and rats, and it is possible that this also happened that morning. It is terrible that this has happened, but I had nothing to do with it."
18 months in prison and €8,000
When hearing that the Public Prosecutor's Office was seeking an 18-month prison sentence and a €8,000 fine for unintentional assault and battery, he called the evidence against him "creative."
"Yes, I already had the air rifle. But I can shoot a maximum of 30 metres with it, and she was 60 metres away. They are going to great lengths to label me a big liar, but the facts speak for themselves," he said.
In court on Wednesday, the victim said that she was still in a lot of pain as a result of the bullet wound. "Constantly. Whether I am working, driving, or just sitting up straight, I always feel that pain."
The verdict will be handed down on 25 June.
