Schaerbeek Hammam: How a simple neighborhood dispute turned into a murder trial

A neighborhood dispute that occurred in February 2021 took a dramatic turn when a shot hit Bilal E.B. in the abdomen. The incident occurred at the entrance of a hammam in Schaerbeek co-managed by the defendant, Sofiane T., after an altercation involving the latter’s wife.

The victim initially survived his injuries, but he died in August 2022 from a drug overdose. The current legal issue lies in the requalification of the facts: the family is asking that the suspect be tried for murder before an Assize Court, and no longer for a simple attempted murder before a correctional court, according to La Dernière Heure. A causal link between the shots and the death by overdose

The public prosecutor argues that the overdose is the direct consequence of the gunshot wounds. "Medications that he would not have taken if he had not been shot!", the magistrate hammered, referring to the constant pain and operations undergone by the victim during the eighteen months preceding his death.

Sofiane T., for his part, pleads for an accident. The forty-year-old claims to have seized a weapon out of fear for his wife and that the shot was fired as the victim was throwing himself at him. He describes a tense climate involving individuals allegedly armed with knives and in possession of drugs.

The public prosecutor rejects this version, stressing that no knife was found at the scene. For the prosecution, the act of firing at close range on a person requires assuming the final consequences, the causal link being considered obvious by the public prosecutor’s office.

Bilal E.B.’s family expresses its bitterness at the freedom the suspect still enjoys five years after the events. His brother deplores that Sofiane T. has not spent a single day in prison despite the seriousness of the assault, while his sisters report ongoing provocations from the defendant.