2023-10-06 12:13:00
Two years ago, Hassan found his car damaged. Someone had hooked up their Golf and left without leaving their contact details.
We are in Schaerbeek, on a Sunday in July 2021. Hassan was devastated. Looking at the damage, it would certainly cost several thousand euros.
But he found his smile once more. A neighbor, in fact, had noted the registration of the vehicle that had fled and everything would end up being okay. We would find the culprit. He would go to court and pay for the repairs.
Size details. A victim in the past of a work accident, Hassan, 48, is paraplegic. The VW Golf was adapted to his handicap.
Finding your car damaged is up in the air for everyone. This is where the story is edifying. When we meet him, Hassan doesn’t lose his temper.
Circumstances
Sunday July 4, 2021. The day before, he had parked in the disabled parking space set up in front of his home, 16, rue du Pavillon, in Schaerbeek. Thanks to the neighbor across the street, we learned that the collision happened the day before Saturday around 9 p.m. The neighbor, hearing a “big boom,” ran to the window and saw a moving van with a lift starting up once more. The neighbor noted the registration.
Initially, the Schaerbeek police did what was necessary. The driver, a certain Fikri, was questioned on August 14 and admitted that “that evening, I went for a drink following work. I had permission from my employer to use the van. While I was driving along Rue du Pavillon, I heard a clicking noise near the VW Golf. I went down to check the lift, thinking the locks had opened. Everything seemed in order. I must say that I didn’t pay attention to other elements. I continued on my way”.
In the meantime, Hassan had contacted a specialist lawyer.
As of September 1, Mr. Tieleman informed the prosecution that he was intervening in the case. Bernard Tieleman insisted on the fact that his client, a paraplegic, had had the car adapted to his disability and that the bodybuilder was announcing a bill for several thousand euros.
Neighbor’s testimony
This is where immobility sets in. The accident dates back to the beginning of July 2021. The police department will wait until June 2022 to finally conduct a detailed interview with the neighbor across the street. We had lost 11 months. The neighbor can only confirm: “I heard a boom. I ran to the window. I saw a removal lift van which was very close to the neighbor’s VW Golf, parked as usual in the disabled parking space. I saw the guy get out of the van, look around then get back in the vehicle and drive away.
We had lost 11 months and lawyer Tieleman was struggling. Twice, he contacted the Brussels public prosecutor’s office to “worry regarding the progress” of this case which, he wrote, “seems to be standing still” even though all the elements are known: a witness seen everything and the alleged perpetrator has confessed. What more is needed?
But the prosecution responded to be patient. His response: “I have the honor to inform you that this matter is currently under investigation. As soon as a decision is made, we will keep you informed. There is no point in sending us reminders.”
Automatic responses
But the months go by, and nothing happens. We are now in April… 2023 and Me Tieleman, without news since the previous year, took the liberty of relaunching the magistrate. He writes: “I return with particular insistence to this affair […] where (Hassan), who is paraplegic, has a vital need for his vehicle.”
It must be believed that the prosecution has a panel of automatic responses. One key on the keyboard and presto! Let’s go. His response from April 2023 is a copy and paste of those provided in 2021 and 2022. “I have the honor to inform you that this matter is currently under investigation. As soon as a decision is made, we will keep you informed. There is no point in sending us reminders.”
In the meantime, Hassan, who needs his car, had it repaired at his own expense, the opposing party’s insurer having refused to intervene, awaiting the decision of the prosecution. However, the repairs had cost 3,842.83 euros.
Case closed
While everyone had been waiting for two years for the case to reach court, the prosecution made its decision and Hassan has just learned regarding it from his lawyer: the prosecution closed the case. The case is closed. There will be no trial. The (suspected) author of the hit-and-run will not be tried. He will not be convicted or found guilty. “No judgment will force him or the insurer to pay for repairs,” says Mr. Tieleman. My client who had advanced 3,850 euros will not be reimbursed.”
For two years, the prosecution had asked them to be patient. “The matter is under investigation”. There was “no point in sending reminders”.
He lingered for two years only to realize too late that he had missed reasonable deadlines.
This is what we read in the letter that the prosecutor sent to Hassan: “Everyone has the right to be judged within a reasonable time. Given the time that has passed since the facts, I believe that this deadline has passed in your case and that it is not appropriate to prosecute the suspect. I therefore decided to handle the case without criminal prosecution”. Signed: “The prosecutor”. (Illegible signature, editor’s note).
Exceeding
The alleged perpetrator, identified, confessing to a hit-and-run, will not be judged, the prosecution having delayed in processing the case considering that reasonable time limits have been exceeded.
With this consequence that the owner of the Golf, who had paid for the repairs, will ultimately not be reimbursed. He will pay out of his own pocket, due to the lack of resources of the prosecution which did not succeed, following two years, in bringing the case – a case without complications – before the police court. The height of irony is that the prosecution justifies its decision by exceeding reasonable deadlines, an excess that it itself caused.
Hassan is ulcerated. “I don’t know what the problem is with the justice system but it’s shameful. Is this justice?”
The floor creaks
But the Brussels prosecutor’s office is in difficulty. It should be remembered that since the departure of Jean-Marc Meilleur, there has been no king’s prosecutor in office for almost two and a half years. The prosecution, the largest in the country, has been operating without a leader for more than two years.
Parquet floor creaks. The frame is only 70% full. Its workforce increased from 119 magistrates to 95 in 2023.
And doing more with less is complicated. Rankings without follow-up are exploding. According to figures communicated in September by the Attorney General, Johan Delmulle, the number has more than doubled. Vertical rankings have increased by 157% in five years. And these are the consequences.
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