The 10 migrant minors accused of gang-raping a 14-year-old Belgian schoolgirl in the Flemish city of Kortrijk reportedly filmed the sexual assault on their smartphones and shared the images on the messaging platform Snapchat.
News of the heinous attack, believed to have taken place during the Easter holidays, first emerged in the Belgian press on Wednesday, but further facts have now come to light.
The victim’s 16-year-old boyfriend is understood to have repeatedly lured her to a forest in the Belgian province of Flanders to have sex with her, but upon arriving a gang of his friends — all reported by Het Nieuwsblad to be of immigrant origin — ambushed the girl and took turns assaulting her while one acted as a lookout.
She is understood to have been sexually abused by several of the participants and raped at least twice. The alleged offenses took place over three separate incidents between April 2 and April 6.
“The girl was loaned out and raped several times and in different ways,” a source told the Belgian newspaper.
The West Flanders public prosecutor’s office has confirmed an investigation is ongoing into the involvement of each suspect in the offenses.
Ten migrant minors have been arrested by the authorities, aged between 11 and 16. Four have been committed to house arrest while six were detained in a young offenders’ institute, although three have since been released on conditional bail after an initial court hearing on Wednesday.
The victim’s boyfriend remains in custody, his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.
“He understands that he is now locked up, but this is also traumatizing for him. This is also very difficult for his parents, wealthy people who have tried to give their son a good upbringing,” they told Belgian media.
“The parents don’t understand how this could happen. It also strikes me that suspects of such crimes are becoming younger and younger. That is very disturbing,” the lawyer added.
Another lawyer defending one of the suspects believed to be of Somali origin, expressed her horror at the circumstances surrounding the offenses, revealing she has never had to deal with a crime of this nature before.
“These are horrible facts. The question is how it is possible that these children have lost all sense of norms. What should we do with this? How are we going to solve this? It is a question that should be asked not only to the juvenile judge but also to society as a whole. I have not yet experienced such facts in my 15-year career,” lawyer Kelly Decaluwé said.
Kortrijk mayor Vincent Van Quickenborne expressed his shock at the case.
“The public prosecutor’s office does not allow me to say anything about the facts themselves, but I had been aware of the investigation for some time. These are crappy acts for which there are no words. I say that not only as a politician but also as a father of three young children,” he said.
A second gang rape has now come to light
However, since this initial incident, a second gang rape of another Belgian teen from the same city has been revealed.
Belgian media reported that on Friday evening, a 17-year-old Belgian girl was walking through Astridpark in Kortrijk with her boyfriend when she was attacked by three young men who pulled her into the bushes and forced her to perform oral sex on them.
The victim’s boyfriend tried but failed to prevent the attack; however, he did call the police who responded immediately and arrested the three suspects, an 18-year-old and two 26-year-olds.
The suspects denied the attack, insisting the sexual acts were consensual.
They, too, have been remanded in custody and had their detention extended by a month after an initial court hearing.