Maria (not her real name), of Cuban origin, and Charles (idem) have lived in Verviers through marriage for 26 years. Despite living in isolation, to the point where Maria still needs an interpreter to make herself understood to the court, everything seemed to be going normally until about a year ago their relationship took a turn for the worse. “ Because of Charles' refusal to welcome a cousin of hers currently living in Florida,” she will say in front of the criminal court where she appears handcuffed. “ A cousin, my eye »Charles told investigators, referring instead to someone with whom she had had a sexual relationship in Cuba and that she had a written relationship with someone from Mexico. “ From the family » she said.
Her incarceration was caused by a violent scene on September 30, during which she demolished the stair railing with a machete! “ I had drunk a lot, and then I become aggressive, it gets to my brain. That evening, I was angry because Charles had disappeared for several hours without me knowing where he was. » she explains, admitting that she was an alcoholic and drank every day. But the investigation also made it possible to demonstrate that she kept her husband in a state of subjection which he suffered without saying anything, depriving him of food, locking up his clothes, removing the cable from the television while he looked. Not to mention the scenes of insults and even beatings.
Ms. Herman, public prosecutor, evokes scenes of intimidation, jealousy, physical and psychological abuse that this 80-year-old man suffered, even going so far as to push him down the stairs. And she doesn't seem to express the slightest regret. This is why she is calling for a two-year prison sentence.
Me Renard, in his defense, explains that the couple is currently in the process of divorcing and that his client, no longer having any family ties or property in Belgium, is considering a return to Cuba with her family. He considers that it would be of no use to grant him a probationary reprieve in order to treat his alcoholism, and pleads for a simple reprieve. Judgment at two weeks.
