Prosecutors in Belgium are seeking ten years in prison for a Syrian migrant who is believed to have sexually abused his eight-year-old step daughter and left her pregnant as a result of the abuse.
The 27-year-old is said to have raped the young girl between January and March of last year in the Belgian municipality of Doische, a small town on the border with France.
The Namur prosecutor’s office commented on the case saying, “We have been notified of this pregnancy,” and added, “Further medical examinations made it possible to date the pregnancy to eight weeks. It was decided to carry out a therapeutic voluntary termination of pregnancy because, given her age, she could not have carried it to term without putting her own life at risk,” La Dernière Heure reports.
Investigators say that the girl initially tried to claim she had become pregnant from a 16-year-old boy but prosecutors suspected the step father and DNA testing was carried out and matched that of the suspect.
On Wednesday, while before the court, the Syrian admitted he had sexual relations with the young girl and claimed that it was the first time had had drank alcohol and could not control himself.
He also blamed the victim stating, “She’s eight years old but she’s older than that in her head. She came on my lap and kissed me and then asked me for this relationship.”
The man’s lawyer also called for leniency in the case, stating, “In his country, young girls can marry at the age of 13. As a result of the acts committed, there was an awareness. He wants to adapt to our laws and live the Belgian way.”
Similar defence strategies citing cultural differences have been used in the past by migrants accused of sexually abusing children, including last year in France in which a migrant accused of raping his daughter stated he was unaware that sexual relations with family members were illegal in the country.
In 2018, a Syrian migrant accused of two counts of rape of a 12-year-old in Sweden also claimed ignorance of the law, stating that he did not know sex with young girls was illegal.