Brussels Landlord Murder Case: Tenant Acquitted After 15-Year Investigation

The facts date back to September 2008. Denis Debouverie, aged 74, owned most of the buildings in the Îlot Sacré - the historic district of the capital -, reports the site dhnet.be. On September 10, 2008, he was found dead, his throat slit, on the floor of his office located above the "La Vieille Ville" restaurant, facing "La Petite Fontaine", in the Petite rue des Bouchers.

One of his tenants, Tarek Ladhari, aged 65, managed the "La Petite Fontaine" restaurant, the victim’s property, located in the famous district. He will be accused of committing this crime. Very quickly, the investigation revealed that he owed a lot of money to Denis Debouverie following "rent payment delays".

However, "they had reached an agreement and there was no conflict between them," the accused had claimed. On this, the jurors noted that "the victim had many conflicts, even enemies".

Another disturbing fact, Tarek’s DNA had been found on the bottom of the victim’s pants as well as on a bottle opener and a whiskey bottle found around the crime scene. But here, in particular, the jurors established that these elements were not enough to prove that Tarek was there at the time of the crime.

According to them, "the confined nature of the Îlot Sacré and the frequent contacts that the restaurateurs maintained with each other do not make it possible to exclude that objects have been transferred".

In short, for the jurors, "other leads have not been sufficiently and timely explored". Furthermore, the investigation also revealed that the "king of the Îlot Sacré" was "a complex character, and that he was in constant conflict with his tenants. But also, he maintained relationships with many lovers, mainly young men," notes the same source.