Belgian Family Tracks Daughter’s Convicted Killer to Morocco After 7-Year Search

At the heart of this case recently reported by the newspaper La Dernière Heure, a grieving and devastated Belgian family. Since the murder of Théa, a two-year-old child, in November 2005, on the very day of her birthday.

The murderer, at the time, did not escape justice. Indeed, tried in absentia, Mounir Kiouh had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for having abused and killed the daughter of his companion. But he had time to fly five days after the trial, to Morocco, under a false identity, thus completely escaping Belgian justice.

Having lost all hope in Belgian justice, Théa’s parents took the initiative to conduct their own investigation. "They had no more hope in Belgium. No news. It was stalling," the little girl’s grandfather told La Dernière Heure. Having learned thanks to one of their contacts of the presence of the murderer in Tetouan, they went there in April, with a Moroccan lawyer.

With the help of the Moroccan justice and police, Mounir Kiouh was summoned before being placed in custody. He is indicted by the Moroccan investigating judge for "murder of a minor child". It was "the relief we had been waiting for a very long time," said Jennifer Devos, Théa’s mother.

Finally relieved to know that justice has been done, Théa’s family must however suffer that Mounir Kiouh cannot be extradited to Liège to serve his sentence. But no matter! At 37, Théa’s mother, who has 4 children to support, intends to be able to look to the future with the whole family, her heart a little more at peace, even if this pain remains engraved forever in her.