Belgium

Participants:
Caroline Delesie - justice of the peace
Karien Loontjens - attorney
Rik Devloo - attorney
Veerle Carron - attorney
Jan Leysen - attorney

Case:

On Sunday evening 25 September, a heated discussion arises between Eddy and Gina. The couple has been living together for two weeks and Eddy has a problem with the fact that Gina supplements her income as a waitress in a café. The discussion blazes up and Eddy rails at Gina. Filled with anger or fear, Gina locks herself up in the bathroom. Eddy feels powerless and takes a jerry can of petrol from the garden house, pours the contents out on the seat in the drawing room and starts a fire. The fire - just like Eddy a while ago - is no longer controllable and he bangs the bathroom door to inform Gina on the fact that the house is burning down and that they will both be burned up. Gina opens the door and sees no chance to escape. Eddy jumps into the bathroom and after a dispute, he helps Gina to escape through the narrow bathroom window. Afterwards, he can also save himself, tries to extinguish the fire with one bucket, but then runs away in a panic. One year after the facts, Eddy has to account for his actions before the Criminal Court at Kortrijk on the charges of: - intentionally having set fire to a house whereas the perpetrator knew that it was occupied and with the circumstance that the fire has injured Gina (arts. 510 and 518 of the Belgian Penal Code); - attempted manslaughter against Gina on the occasion of which the intention to commit the crime has manifested itself by external acts that are a start of realisation of that crime and that only have been ceased or missed their effect as a result of circumstances independent of the perpetrator’s will.