What the actual fuck.
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I actually spend quite a lot of time in Leuven these days, and looking at some of those houses and the general state of Belgium today … I can’t say that’s not likely to be true.
It’s just that the place kinda struck me as safe. I guess it’s not.
Belgium has some of (if not the) lowest income inequality in the OECD due to our very harsh income tax (highest median tax wedge of the OECD, yes even including the nordics). With quite a few asterisks attached to that statement of course because our fiscal system is a complete mess so if you’re special kinds of well off (e.g. you make your income on capital gains) you’ll be taxed very little.
How low income inequality doesn’t correlate to very high standards of living like it does in the Nordics… Well I’ll leave it to historians and economists to hash it out. The answer you get will almost certainly reflect that person’s personal politics. Harsh industrial decline is worth mentioning though.Wallonia is measurably poorer than Flanders, but both regions are developed western economies. The US has a murder rate 535 % of Belgium’s, and I don’t see anyone warning students away from studying there (or well, not until the past few months).
That judge should be investigated and the prosecutor should definitely appeal, and besides there is a lot of work to do safety-wise, especially for women to be able to feel safe, but that’s hardly a problem specific to Leuven or Belgium.It is quite safe. What I heard about this case is that the victim was happy with the outcome.
They met at a party, she was drunk. He said he asked consent, she said he raped her. There was no evidence or allegation of force, just that she couldn’t have consented in her drunken state.
He had a clean record.
He got convicted and ordered to pay €3500 and if he commits another crime, then this one will count too.
She was satisfied with the outcome. She especially wanted recognition that it was rape.
I think this is a good outcome. If he ever rapes someone again, he’ll be a serial rapist and get the book thrown at him.
And on the flipside, I find it difficult to throw the book at people under the circumstances in these kind of cases.
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Also how many people will potentially suffer before another one comes forward and gets taken seriously? 🤨
Nevertheless, the judge refrained from passing sentence. “It is undeniable that he passed the line of what is permissible. The man showed a lack of respect for the victim’s physical, psychological and sexual boundaries.
I don’t know how they do it over there, but where I’m from, those are 3 things someone should probably respect if they’re going to be placed in a position requiring great trust like a doctor…
There are a few other articles it seems - this one has:
While the victim has found some solace in the court’s recognition of her assault, she is disappointed that her attacker faces no real consequences.
Which says she was not happy with the outcome, only that the rape was recognized.
Per this article:
Leuven University Hospital has suspended a medical student that was convicted of raping another student but was not sentenced for his crime.
The school has at least ensured there were some measure of consequences. Also:
Chief physician Gert Van Assche said that "First and foremost our thoughts go out to the victim. Together with KU Leuven we will look at the court’s ruling and examine how we will go on from there. In the meantime, as a precautionary measure the doctor concerned has been suspended from duties at the hospital”.
The only other article was paywalled and seemed to have no additional information anyway.
Edit: I think its worth noting, though it can be seen in the link, he was studying gynecology.
They changed it though. Now they are saying she wanted him to be ineligible to practice medicine.
They met at a party
According to this article in DM she’s on camera stumbling around the city streets so drunk that should couldn’t stay upright and that’s where she ran into this guy. Of course that article also says this happened at “quarter to five at night.” which makes no sense.
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Regardless of why he got suspension of penalty, if you read anything about the case it wasn’t because he or his parents are rich. Personally I think there’s more nuance than the clickbait headlines. I think he should not have gotten the penalty suspended but I can understand why that happened. The shortened motivation for this does read like ragebait ofcourse. His future should not have been as important as his cooperation, verifiable truthfulness and the fact he did abuse the state of someone who could not consent. Where that balance ends for punishment ends I find hard to say. But to reduce it to that he’s rich is just populist nonsense.
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The article doesn’t mention this rapist’s name, though.
Little coward is probably afraid of getting the Brock Allen Turner treatment.
If he’s been convicted, he shouldn’t have a choice about that.
None of them do. The closest I could find were the initials “R.V”.
I remember an officer in the USCG accused of rape while I worked as a welder on base. Guy had to paint the fire lane on curbs for a month while his superiors quietly hushed up the incident so as to not disturb the guys advancement prospects (he was the kid of some higher rank admin).
I’m sure that taught him a lesson
/s
Hey, I’m really young and talented! I would hope to one day meet an awesome playmate like Lulu Chu. She is awesome like Tera Patrick but in a more docile… Oh my wife said no. Sorry Lulu! Maybe pen pals? I’ll check with my wife.
At getting away with rape.
This truly is a prison planet.
He was training to be a gynecologist, so definitely would rape again. Don’t wish for him to have another victim but sounds like a second offense gets him a sentence for the first one as well.
His training to be a gynecologist is irrelevant. Please do not propagate the myth that men go into gynecology to take advantage of women. If he’s a rapist, that’s independent.
unrelated to male gynecologists in general, this particular gynecologist is a rapist and will have lots of access to vulnerable victims.
Seems like his goal from the beginning
The man hasn’t been named by Belgian media. 😠
Internet detectives, hear my call! Find the name of this rapist so that we may plaster it everywhere like the rapist Brock Turner!
The man hasn’t been named by Belgian media.
Yes, because that’s illegal in Belgium, if not the EU.
The man has been suspended from his university though
Really? How do you know?
Because he can read news sources in Dutch?
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/04/01/student-geneeskunde-verkrachting-geen-straf/
Thanks!
Just like Brock Turner, the rapist!
Oh Brock Allen Turner, the rapist who now goes by Allen Turner?
Yup, the rapey one
And when I say I don’t trust judges and that the justice system of most places is broken for giving a single person the final decision power, based on whatever they think is right, people say I’m trolling.
Judges pull decisions out of their ass to fulfill whatever interest they have. Or sometimes just because they are stupid.
Good judges are super rare.
You’re absolutely right unfortunately. I had to witness myself. That day, I lost my believe in our justice system (that was in Germany).
Yeah, better let the internet mob, who barely takes time to read an understand a newspaper article, pass judgement.
That’s a judiciary system I’d want to live under.
I talk about the power being in the hand of a single person, and your first alternative is the internet?
You went from black to white and forgot all the colors in between
Yeah in this case I think it’s more a case of “hey this guy looks kind of like my son”. In this case I think it led to a miscarriage of justice, but I think in other cases that kind of thinking could protect against excessively harsh punishments. In the end I think it comes down to inequality. Bigger inequality shrinks the pool of people judges can intuitively relate to, which in turn makes judgements more unequal.
And that is why DEI policies were first on the chopping block sadly.
So if he’s gonna rape as a med student, he’s definitely gonna rape as a doctor. And that judge is a rapist too, judging from their warped views
I thought the same thing. The judge is too lenient and I question their morality.
He probably did something similar in his past. Maybe raped a drunk girl at a party or similar while in undergrad. Never got caught for it, and never went on to do it again. So he figured if he can learn his lesson and not repeat the crime, why not this kid? Justice to the victims isn’t even considered.
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And people wonder why there are vigilantes.
For any vigilante out there. This rape was performed by Dr. Ruben Vanstiphout, you can contact this bright young man with a massive future ahead at ruben.vanstiphout@uzleuven.be
You should try Afghanistan, it’s full of vigilantes that you seem to like.
If we are going to be ol fashioned then we are going to be ol fashioned… If there is no justice we will go and find justice. We’re even seeing this with the likes of Saint Luigi. People just don’t understand history. FAFO
The Kidnap Years: The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America David Stout
Wow that’s actually crazy. Ty
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Oh Allen Turner? Who started using his middle name instead of Brock Turner? Because he raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster? That guy? (Brock/Allen Turner?)
I just want to be sure I’m thinking of the right guy…
https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/us/sexual-assault-brock-turner-stanford/index.html
This Brock Allen Turner right?
Does the rapist Brock Allen Turner still live in Oakwood Ohio, a wealthy suburb of Dayton Ohio?
Hey all, anyone who cares about/is interested in knowing more about the crime committed by the rapist Brock Allen Turner should read Know My Name, written by the woman who was actually assaulted, Chanel Miller.
I highly recommend listening to the audio book, as she reads it herself and has a powerful voice.
Yes, the rapist Brock Allen Turner is also the first thing that crossed my mind. How he got away after raping that girl and now is even trying to change his name.
The conviction will not appear on the man’s criminal record. However, if he reoffends, he will be sentenced for this rape as well as for the new offence.
Why wait to be proven wrong? I don’t understand. Rapists shouldn’t be doctors.
Doctors get one rape…
He claims that he asked her several times if she consented and that he had been given the impression that she did.
In his summing up the judge said “It has been proven that sexual intercourse took place at a time that she was in a state that meant that she couldn’t possibly consent to it. The offence is serious and unacceptable.”
Wow, we can both read! That’s awesome. Now one of us just has to work on their comprehension…
You asked why wait. The point of jail and fines is to avoid reoffending. The judge thinks he won’t, and will be more valuable to society as a doctor than an inmate. Also If he does this again then he will get hit twice as hard.
Something tells me that they are not publishing his name because they’re betting that his future patients would feel differently. I would not want to see Dr. Rapist for any reason, even if he’s the best physician in the city.
But Dr Shacked Up With A Woman Once When They Were Both Drunk And She Was Too Drunk And He Should Have Known Better might be a bit more acceptable to some.
In his summing up the judge said “It has been proven that sexual intercourse took place at a time that she was in a state that meant that she couldn’t possibly consent to it. The offence is serious and unacceptable.”
Not interested in debating this. It’s obvious that someone with much more experience and education in this field disagreed with you even though he stupidly decided not to punish him.
It’s obvious that someone with much more experience and education
“He’s clever when he agrees with me, so you’re stupid, but stupid when he doesn’t.”
No. You’re not interested in debating this because you’ve jumped to conclusions and you’re neither reading nor thinking.
JFC, I was afraid this was in the US. I’m not pleased to realize there are other places just as fucked up. Though in the US the excuse for letting him off would have to be that he was rich, not brilliant.
Belgium, for those wondering.
In the US and a lot of other countries this wouldn’t even be considered rape. It’s good that it is here, but this case isn’t quite as easy as it seems on first glance.
I think the judge made the right call here. It was a drunk hook up where both people were drunk, but conscious. The girl was quite a bit more drunk to the point where she was ruled unable to consent in a legal senses despite the fact she did and several witnesses confirmed she did.
Again, still rape, which is sex without consent, but very far from the vicious predator most people are picturing right now.
Yes, she made contact with him, he called her GF’s who didn’t answer bcs it was late and finally went home with him.
Bcs she was too drunk it is considered rape.
This article is doesn’t accurately tell the events.
But I agree he wouldn’t be let off if he wasn’t a privileged student.
Obligatory reminder that Belgium has a unresolved problem with a pedophile ring raping and murdering children with impunity, enjoying protection and likely having direct involvement of the highest ranks of politics, police and judiciary.
I think you have enough pedos in your own country to worry about a thing from 30 years ago
k. what you yelling about then?
Not yelling, that’s he imagination in your weard head.
Jusqt saying a Germ definitely shouldn’t be obsessed with something totally unrelated to this case.
Especially knowing how horrible you all are.Deflection. Probably feels threatened by you mentioning it.
thereby, you’ve doomed us all, because you even thought of that
This article feels super rage bait-y to be honest. Like my first reaction at the title is of course, being like “thats fucked up” but as im reading it, it feels like this article was written in a manipulative way. There’s no sources at all, can’t find any using English google, decided to literally figure out how to search Dutch google in Dutch just to find something more reputable and there’s only this one site, which has 2 articles, the only 2 links in either is one article pointing to the other, and another link to what is clearly (from the add/article layout) a Belgium tabloid of some kind.
Like nothing about the people involved or the situation, but this website is some shit, and so is the other one covering this. They may be on the right side of this story but this website itself feels incredibly un-credible, and I wouldn’t think to assume Belgium has some sort of news media problem where like, the gossip tabloids are the last bastions fighting for bodily autonomy and consent, where it would make sense that there is no other source.
Thanks. That’s the kind of comments Reddit was great for a long time ago. Now it’s just immediate jump to outrage without anyone reading the article or doing any research when in doubt. And you even posted your conclusion. That’s just very very helpful
Thank you, this means a lot.
Except the comment is absolute horseshit. Vrt is the public broadcasting and news service and absolutely not a tabloid, furthermore this story is well documented and has been all over Belgian news for a week so it’s absolutely uncalled for to call the veracity of this story into question.
If you want a source, here is a direct link to the verdict: https://rechtbanken-tribunaux.be/sites/default/files/media/reatpi/leuven/files/correctioneel-vonnis-leuven-1-april-2025.pdf
Feel free to cross reference with the article and point out inaccuracies. As far as I can tell, the article is factual but perhaps a bit short on details and context. Nevertheless, this story has been covered extensively and much more in depth in Dutch on the same website. In fact, I retrieved the link to the verdict from an article on vrt.be.
I also didn’t call the veracity of the fucking story into question. What the actual fuck is your problem? Do you need to lash out on people for not automatically knowing the same shit you know? I appreciate the fucking verdict link, which was what I was trying to find in the first place, but you didn’t need to be a dick about it.
I was annoyed because that article on it’s own basically says “take this as we tell it to you or go fuck yourself” with the way it’s presenting the info. It’s about fucking delivery. Thanks for bringing the shitty part of Reddit with you, I came here to avoid, by completely missing the point of what I was saying just to fabricate yourself a target to take your shitty day out on.
Jesus quit straw-manning, I didn’t say Vrt was a tabloid, I said the only site they refrenced, and only in the dutch version of the artcile, was the tabloid, not Vrt.
bit short on details and context
That is the litteral definition of rage bait. Leaving out details and context to just tell people what they should feel. It doesen’t matter if it’s on a subject matter I would otherwise be in support of or not. It’s fucked up.
If you have a good point to make, you can make it proper. Doing it with rage bait is a fucked up way to profit from a tragedy while undermining real progress on solving the underlying problem by fucking with people’s trust. This is performative bullshit that grand standers do to make a buck off something, while causing more harm in the long term.
And I did read the PDF you linked after translating it, and that only verified how rage baity that article was written (at least their English version in the op link). Here it is in English for anyone else who wants to see: https://imgur.com/a/CeM1VDi
you could use an editor, same here
Of course you, who looked into this, barely have any notice.
vrt.be is a very reputable site and not a tabloid. It belongs to the Flemish public broadcasting service, and they mostly write articles in Dutch. They do have an English section as well, though obviously it’s not as thorough as their Dutch site. After all, we are a Dutch speaking region.
I can assure you that this case is very real, and has been all over the Belgian media the past week. Just google “verkrachter leuven”, and you’ll literally find hundreds of news articles about this case.
decided to literally figure out how to search Dutch google in Dutch just to find something more reputable
Looks like you didn’t do a very good job then.
I appreciate the info but it would be a lot easier for them to demonstrate their legitimacy by using reference links that point somewhere besides their own internal articles, as opposed to the burden being on me to familiarize myself with a language I don’t know and entire nations culture/media landscape on a dime, in order to do that job for them.
They could be less lazy if they are reputable.
Edit: PS the one site they linked to (on the dutch version of the article, not the English one) was the one I said was a tabloid. It very clearly is a tabloid and it basically has the exact same formatting and color scheme as The Sun.
There is going to be a new trial, everybody chill out.
fuck if i understand belgian law, but it seems appropriate to say what the fuck is this
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