This case had already been handled by the Dinant criminal court last July, which ordered a collective mental assessment of the defendant. This panel of experts concluded that he does not suffer from a mental disorder.
This Wednesday morning, the Namur public prosecutor’s office therefore maintained the same requisitions as those of July 10, 2024, namely 6 years firm.
Me Marescaux, lawyer for the defendant, pleads for acquittal. According to her, there is not enough evidence to prove the criminal and intentional nature of the fire. That day, the man had been drinking, smoking cannabis and taking medication. He could very well have fallen asleep and accidentally provoked him.
However, the court recalls that according to two collaborators of the center, the defendant is a fan of blackmail. He regularly threatened to set fires when he didn’t get what he wanted. That day, returning from the Mont-Godinne hospital where he could not be treated, he declared that he was “going to do something stupid”. The man would also have already tried to set their fire in his former center, Braine-le-Comte.
-Kicked out of his home by his family
The defense also evokes the chaotic life of the defendant, chased from his village in Sierra Leone after contracting the Ebola virus.“Several members of his family also contracted it and died. He was accused of having contaminated them. He fled to Libya with his brother where the latter died before his eyes. My client lost an eye by the inhumane treatment he received.” A migratory journey which finally brought him to Belgium, in 2021.
Judgment on February 12.
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