Mehdi’s escape follows a family argument. “He had committed a theft from the family. We wanted to have an explanation. But it got worse. He hit his fist on a frame fixed to the wall and injured himself”continues his father. “I’m afraid something bad will happen to him. After our argument, he told me: ‘I’m fed up, I want to hang myself’.”
“He was trying to get out of all his problems and it was working”
Mehdi fled the day after the argument, after having gone to the hospital to be stitched up with his father. Who reported him missing to the police and called Child Focus. The organization specializing in the search for missing children made a sticker and sent it to public transport companies (SNCB, Stib, Tec, De Lijn), peace guards, police services, etc.
The family and youth section of the West zone police (Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Jette, Ganshoren, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe and Koekelberg) also investigated his disappearance, in particular through the analysis of images from surveillance cameras. She also regularly called Mehdi’s father to find out if he had returned.
But, for two weeks: nothing. Reason for Mehdi’s dad’s call to the media. His father had already called on his son to join the family home via the media in 2022. With success. Aged 13 at the time, Mehdi had run away from the IPPJ in Fraipont. The police found him the next day in Charleroi. During this night of wandering, Mehdi robbed a Night&Day in Charleroi, twice in two days. Police arrested him during the second robbery.
Runaways on the rise: + 40% in four years
“He did stupid things”confirms his father but “nothing that can take away the love we have for him or the fact of taking such risks by running away without a phone or money.” Mehdi was then placed in IPPJ for nine months. “He came out recently, went back to school and also worked in a hotel in the center of Brussels, near the Stock Exchange. He was trying to get out of all his problems and it was working. But everything came crashing down on the day of the argument.”
Child Focus does not have statistics specifically for Brussels on runaways. Nationally, they continue to increase. From 816 in 2019, they increased to 1,394 in 2023. An increase of more than 40% in 4 years and 22% compared to the previous year, we read in the organization’s annual report. 68% of runaways concern girls while 18% of runaways reoffend. Last year, Child Focus processed more than 2,000 disappearance cases, 20% of which were judged.worrying”.
