A 28-year-old man from the Flemish Brabant municipality of Kampenhout has been sentenced to 6 Years’ imprisonment after he was found guitly of cybersex offences against dozens of girls aged between 10 and 14. The man told the girls that he was a boy of a similar age to them and then coerced his victims to send him nude photographs and explicit videos of themselves. A total of 33 victims have been identified. However, the prosecutor’s office believes that there are dozens more.
28-year-old man from Flemish Brabant given 6-year prison sentence for online sexual abuse of dozens of young girls
Published:
The 28-year-old used the social media platform Snapchat where he posed as a boy in his early teens in order to come into contact with underage girls. Once he had established contact with his victims, he coerced them to send him nude images. He then used these to put pressure on the girls to send him increasingly explicit photographs and videos of themselves. In at least 3 cases the court said that this went as far as the girls being forced to penetrate themselves.
He threatened to put the images they had already sent him online if they refused to comply with his demands. If his victims blocked him on their social media, he made a new account and started the coercion again.
90,000 photographs
The case came to light when the perents of one of the victims went to the police. The investigation discovered almost 3 dozen victims had been abused and coerced in this way.
Detectives found 90,000 photographs, of which 560 nude images, on the man’s mobile phone. On the basis of these they were able to identify 33 victims. The youngest was only 10 years old.
Repeat offender
As this was the man’s 3 conviction for offences of this nature the court decided that a stiff sentence was appropriate. While he was still a minor himself, he was given a reprimand and in 2020 he was given a suspended sentence after having been found guilty of similar offences. He was then also ordered to attend therapy. However, he started reoffending while his course of therapy was still ongoing.