Police in Belgium have announced the arrests of three men in connection with the brutal murder of a 42-year-old gay man in the city of Beveren.
The Belgian newspaper The Standard reports that the victim, identified only as David P., was discovered by a biker in a Beveren park on the morning of March 6. An autopsy later revealed that he had been beaten to death, and a subsequent investigation turned up evidence that he had gone to meet a date he’d met on a gay dating app.
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Police also linked the crime to multiple suspects, including one 17-year-old male connected to a group of so-called “gay bashers,” a group that boasts about luring gay men to isolated locations via social media and dating apps, then beating them. The suspect in question turned himself in to police on Sunday. He subsequently identified two other suspects, 17 and 16-years-old, who have also been questioned by police.
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In the Belgian legal system, a juvenile judge will preside over the case involving the three teens, as they are all minors. However, should the judge decide that the killing was premeditated, motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation, or both, he can turn the case over to a criminal court which will sentence the three teenagers as adults.
Meanwhile, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo took to Twitter to condemn the crime and offer condolences to the family of the victim.
Ik ben zwaar geschokt door de extreme homohaat in Beveren. Dit is echt verschrikkelijk.
Mijn diep medeleven aan de familie en vrienden van het slachtoffer.
Justitie moet nu zijn werk doen. Maar laat één ding duidelijk zijn: we zullen in ons land dit geweld nooit aanvaarden.
— Alexander De Croo (@alexanderdecroo) March 8, 2021
“I am deeply shocked by the extreme homophobia in Beveren,” he tweeted. “This is really awful. My deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victim. Justice must now do its job. But let one thing be clear: we will never accept this violence in our country.”
Chrisk
Belgium? I’m betting it will be the spawn of immigrants from some Muslim shitholes or some Eastern European trash.
JinMichigan
As a Fleming here, I can tell you there’s a lot of homophobic hate in plenty of communities. No need to project your Islamophobia or xenophobia onto this tragedy. Maybe they were but Belgians are perfectly capable of this violence.
Harley
Really? The park? I thought parks went out decades ago.
laurent7465
Really? That’s your take away from this, that parks are déclassé? I don’t know if this happened in he daytime or night time, but I see nothing wrong with meeting in a part at a decent hour and by park I mean a Park and not the bushes. Sounds like your blaming the victim like people blame a woman who has been raped. “well it’s her fault, that dress she was wearing was way too short. She was just asking for it.” We should be able to meet someone where ever we choose, it’s not a victims fault, its the scum bag criminals and justice system who are at fault here. Blame the criminals. Not the victims.
cuteguy
Hopefully they will be tried as adults for this obvious hate crime. I don’t want to hear that “they’re only 16 or 17”. They can sing their own version of the sound of music’s 16 going on 17 to their cell mate when they drop the soap. P.O.S. all three of them
James26
Um, this happened in Belgium. They are likely to actually serve just a few years and their prison will be comparable to a studio apartment.
Cam
@James26
Funny then that Belgum has far far far lower crime rates than the U.S. if their way of dealing with it is so bad.
Leash
i hope they break from the heinous act they have committed, i hope the rest of their lives will be miserable.
James26
Date? No, I don’t think that’s what “date” means. He was on his way to copulate with a complete stranger in a park.
Leaving aside its migrant population, Belgium is a liberal country which banned discrimination against gay people long ago. We can go on real dates, find real love and marry there. There is very little stigma among the native Belgians. In this context, there is no excuse for a 42-year old man to be hooking up with a stranger in a park. If this were 1921, and he had no other options, then it’s understandable. But in 2021, it’s not.
Cam
Or he was meeting in a public place to make sure that the person was who the account said they were, or he had roomates and didn’t want to meet in his apartment, or the attackers told him that they wanted to meet in a public place to make sure he wasn’t lying about something.
But by all means, keep on blaming the victim.
Invader7
@James26 ( per your screen name you sound like some idiotic mid 20’s gay hating apologist ) .Your disgusting comment BLAMING a dead man who happened to be gay is beyond the pale. I bet if that was you butt hole, you wouldn’t want ragging on your choice of hook up spot. The
sociopathic/psychopathic KILLERS / MURDERERS are predators. I guess you’re so fricking perfect that you can look down on those you JUDGE to be inferior . And since you’ve NEVER had sex outside your bedroom your fricking PERFECT. Princess – GTFOY . You’re critical of this VICTIM because ,like so MANY others…you’ve engaged in questionable behavior before.
Cam
To the accounts blaming the victim. In this world, people should be able to do dumb things without being murdered for it.
So enough of you.
ambroses
Invitation to a sex club – xmeet.fun
SinthiaDoom
Blaming the victim, that ages old defense. Regardless of the choices that the VICTIM made, they do not deserve to be Murdered, beaten and or raped. Nothing they are doing warrants that response.
James26
The murderer is to blame for the murder. The victim is to blame for putting himself in a position where the murder could happen. The practice of sex with complete strangers has cost the lives of many thousands of people. It’s time for it to be canceled.
James26
@Cam Suuure. They were just meeting in a public place. Why meet at a restaurant or a street corner with lots of people around when you can meet in an area that’s so secluded that a murder can be committed w/o anyone seeing? Makes perfect sense!