An 80-year-old woman has been physically attacked and sexually assaulted while she was walking through a cemetery in the West Flemish coastal city of Ostend. The attack happened on Friday. Her alleged attacker is a minor. He has been apprehended and has already appeared before a juvenile magistrate.
The pensioner was taking the route she took every day to the shops. This involves taking a short cut through the cemetery on the Stuiverstraat. Suddenly she felt a hard blow to the head and briefly lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness, she saw that there was a boy on top of her and that he had removed her underwear.
The woman tried to fight off her attacker but was unable to do so. The boy ran off when he saw a group of cyclists approach. The woman went to a friend’s house nearby and her friend called the police.
The pensioner was taken to hospital for treatment. She sustained bruising to her elbows and her neck and has a large bump on her head where she was struck.
Attacker was a minor
The West Flemish prosecutor’s office says that “The suspect has since appeared before a juvenile magistrate. As this concerns a minor were are not going to communicate any further about the investigation”.