LOOK. Unknown young man beats up at least three boys for no reason in Ostend | Farouk

On the night of May 27 to 28 it is pleasantly busy in the center of Ostend. The international football competition the Sirene Cup is taking place in the seaside city at that time. Kiet (17) and Stijn (17) are also present. Around one o’clock at night they walk up the sea wall with two friends to see the sea for a while.

There are six other boys sitting on a bench there. One of them, wearing a gray vest and dark pants, immediately approaches Kiet and Stijn. “Did you just talk to a girl?” he asks Stijn. “No, if only it was a party like that,” he answers jokingly.

But there isn’t much to laugh about. The young man suddenly punches Stijn in the face and kicks him. “Kiet is genuinely afraid that the suspect wants to kill Stijn,” says Eline Goeminne of the Ostend police. He therefore intervenes and says that they are not looking for trouble. However, he has to pay for that with a firm blow to the jaw.

Kiet can flee via the beach and notify the emergency services a little further away. He is taken to hospital by ambulance. His injuries are particularly serious: “A jaw fracture that required surgery and made it difficult for him to talk and eat for six weeks,” says Goeminne. Part of Kiet’s shoulder socket was also torn loose and had to be operated on. “These are serious consequences. The rehabilitation for Kiet is still long,” Goeminne continues.

But Kiet and Stijn appear not to be the only victims. When the inspectors are at the hospital to take a statement from Kiet, they encounter a third boy. “He has swollen and bloody lips and says he was hit in the face on the sea wall,” says Goeminne. When investigators request surveillance images from the sea wall, they see that it is indeed the same suspect. And striking: he hits the third victim just a few minutes later after he has mauled Kiet and Stijn.

During their investigation, the investigators found surveillance images of the suspect: around 1.15 am he walked into Langestraat with his friends. There he enters The Truth café, where he puts on a black jacket. Only a few seconds later he comes out again with a young woman at his side. The two turn into Madrid Street and stay there to talk for a while. Then they return to the Langestraat. The police would like to speak to the young woman: “Maybe she doesn’t know what happened before.”

The police would also like to identify the other five boys who were with the suspect. “Maybe they don’t want anything to do with the facts, or they regret what their friend did.”

The police take the facts very seriously. “There have been at least three victims here, possibly more,” says Goeminne. The investigators would therefore absolutely want to find out the identity of the suspect with the gray vest. “All tips will be treated with the utmost discretion.” With all your information you can call the toll-free number 0800 30 300 or you can send an email to zoeken@police.belgium.eu.

This investigation report was created following a collaboration between the federal police, the Public Prosecution Service and DPG Media.

Two men drag Lotte (21) off her bicycle and rape her: “I thought it would never happen to me, until it does”

LOOK. Two robbers on mopeds threaten victims with firearms and steal Rolex watches

LOOK. Three men, one of them in a bizarre suit, rob a night shop and beat up the manager