J’knew how to get myself out of the cage. I touched the handbrake and the guards got scared. I didn’t threaten anyone. I opened the van door and jumped out.“This is the version of the facts of a defendant who was to answer for the preventions of hostage-taking, possession of a weapon and threats this Thursday before the criminal court of Namur.
The facts took place on September 8, 2021 by a defendant born in 2002. The latter, illegally staying, had been sentenced to an 18-month sentence accompanied by a partial reprieve. When he had just finished serving this, the Foreigners Office came to pick him up from Arlon prison to transfer him to the Steenokkerzeel closed center. During the transfer, he would have managed to get out of the cell located in the van before threatening the passenger agent of the vehicle with a pointed object and asking the driver to stop, on the highway, at Eghezée. The defendant finally jumped on the march before fleeing. A tracking dog and air support were mobilized to find him.
Questioned by the court, he said he had no weapon in his possession that day. If he admits having left the cell, he denies having threatened the agents and therefore refutes the prevention of hostage-taking. “A jugular injury was noted by the coroner“, underlines the substitute Seminara, who requires a sentence of 10 years in prison.
Me Bourgeois pleads the acquittal of his client, 20 years old. The latter considers that there was no hostage-taking that day and underlines numerous shortcomings on the part of the agents of the Foreigners Office as well as contradictions in their declarations.
Judgment September 29.
