A “historic verdict”, according to the lawyer for the family of Julie Van Espen, who was murdered in 2019. The Belgian state was held liable on Thursday for the rape and death of the Antwerp student. If the state had made no mistakes, the chance of avoiding the tragic event would have been 50 percent, the Brussels court ruled. The amount of compensation remains to be disputed.
Justice declares that it will not appeal against the verdict. “We recognize the mistakes and the untold suffering,” resigned Minister of Justice Paul van Tigchelt (Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats) said in a response.
Staff shortage
23-year-old Julie Van Espen from Schilde was pulled from her bicycle, raped and murdered on May 4, 2019. That evening around 7.30 pm she was on her way from ‘s Gravenwezel to friends in Antwerp and cycled along the Albert Canal.
The perpetrator is Steve B., who was convicted of rape in 2004. In 2017, he was convicted again for the “brutal rape of his ex”, according to Flemish media. He appealed against the four-year prison sentence imposed on him. But partly due to a shortage of staff at the Antwerp court, his case was delayed for more than two years. There was no risk of flight, the court stated. He was therefore a free man pending his case.
The Van Espen family was tormented for years by the question: “Would Julie still have been alive if…?” That ‘what if’ weighed particularly heavily. Rules and laws are essential to be able to live together in a democracy, the family says. This includes “enough judges.” And that is exactly where the pain point lies.
Matter of principle
The perpetrator was eventually sentenced to life in prison. But the family did not get Julie back with that. They sued the Belgian state for ‘systematic failure’. “If the government remains without a sanction, the message will be given to all women: ‘take care of your own safety, because the government cannot ensure it’,” her brother Andreas described the family sentiment.
The Belgian state must pay provisional compensation of 1 euro to the surviving relatives. The actual amount of damages may be settled in another case. That is not a simple issue, because it concerns a “probability calculation”, says lawyer Joachim Meese, assistant professor of criminal law at the University of Antwerp. “This was primarily a matter of principle, in which admitting mistakes was paramount,” he continues about the case that “affected the whole of Belgium.”
This statement ensures that Julie’s death was not in vain
This is confirmed by the family, who have announced that they will leave it at that. “This ruling ensures that Julie’s death was not in vain. We have once again moved a stone in the river of justice,” said father Erik Van Espen at the press conference on Thursday.
Yet the practice remains unruly. “The Van Espen case has been somewhat eventful, although it cannot yet be said that there is a full complement of staff at the magistracy,” concludes criminal lawyer Meese.
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Life sentence for murder of Belgian Julie Van Espen