Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A Brussels Criminal Court issued a prison term of 40 months to a 20-year-old offender who broke the sexual integrity of a 15-year-old girl on an August 2023 journey from Leuven to Brussels. Authorities delayed identifying the criminal because a search notice became necessary months after the events unfolded.
The court sentenced a man in his twenties to serve 40 months’ confinement, with half the sentence suspended, for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl during a train trip between Leuven and Brussels in August 2023. The Brussels Criminal Court decided that the defendant infringed the underage girl’s sexual boundaries. The suspect remained unidentified until search notices resulted in his subsequent arrest.
A 15-year-old girl stood on the train platform before the accused man started observing her, according to testimony from her legal representative. The man’s alleged attack occurred after she relocated to another area, restraining her on the floor while he gripped her and kissed her forcefully. The girl managed to escape and then found protection among fellow travellers, yet the man tracked her down to sit next to her.
The victim managed to escape by calling the police, which forced her attacker to leave Brussels-North station. The authorities examined the airport video surveillance footage, but they could not identify him until a person who had seen his photo on the March 2024 wanted list came forward.
How common are sexual assaults on public transport in Belgium?
Sexual violence during public transport operations has become a significant problem throughout Belgium. The Belgian Institute for the Equality of Women and Men found through their 2022 research that sexual harassment affects one-third of Belgian women on trains or public transportation. Reports received by SNCB reveal more than 200 accounts of sexual misconduct in 2023, yet specialists agree that unreported cases exceed this number.
This attack happened on the exceptionally busy Brussels-Leuven route that serves tens of thousands of passengers each day thus raising the danger for similar situations. Enhanced monitoring through CCTV cameras and undercover police presence has been implemented by authorities to address the situation yet they struggle to obtain convictions unless witnesses support investigations immediately.
