merchtem · BE
PresuntoSommario
A 7-year-old boy was found dead in an apartment on Korte Ridderstraat in Merchtem, in Flemish Brabant, during the night of Wednesday 6 to Thursday 7 August 2026. The medical examiner found that he died as a result of his injuries, which were consistent with child abuse; investigators found various lesions on his body. Three adults who were in the home were taken into custody. The boy's 24-year-old uncle is held on suspicion of murder and has admitted being responsible for the death, though his lawyer argues that the charge is too severe and that the case should be treated as assault and battery resulting in death. The boy's 27-year-old mother and her 22-year-old housemate are held on suspicion of culpable neglect; the housemate's lawyer says she was on another floor of the building and called the emergency services as soon as she realised something was wrong. On 12 August 2026 the pre-trial chamber in Brussels extended the detention of all three. Residents of Merchtem organised a silent procession for the boy.
Iter giudiziario
- Presunto — 12 agosto 2026 fonte
Fonti
Correzioni
- city corrected from "brussel" to "merchtem", with coordinates moved from the placeholder [0, 0] to the Merchtem centroid [50.9578, 4.2313]. Brussels is where the pre-trial chamber sits, not where the child died. incident_date corrected from the article publication date 2026-08-12 to 2026-08-06, the night on which the boy was found dead.