Belgian Father Released After Serving 9 Years for Son’s Death

Now retired in a shelter in Pecq, Belgium, at the age of 78, Mohamed Jratlou will be able to mourn his son, whom he still denies having killed in 2012.

And yet, the Assize Court, despite his protests, sentenced him to 9 years for intentional violence resulting in the death of little Younès, then 4 years old.

The many requests for the release of the family man did not prosper. And Mohammed Jratlou had to serve his entire sentence, reports 7sur7.be. During this entire period, the same source claims that the accused was supported by his wife during this ordeal.

Disappeared in the night of October 25 to 26, 2009, the lifeless body of little Younès was found two weeks later in the Lys in Comines, after an unsuccessful mobilization of the population and the police.

The autopsy at the time had revealed that the child had been killed before being thrown into the river. The investigation had revealed, for its part, that on the evening of Younès’ disappearance, a violent argument had broken out between his parents, in the presence of their two children.

In his defense, the child’s father claimed that his son had left the family home when he had gone to look for his wife, Naïma. Unfortunately for him, this thesis did not convince the Assize Court, which instead concluded that the father Jratlou had "beaten and suffocated his son to prevent him from screaming."