Article posted on March 10th 2017
Dampremy, the mother testifies: "My daughter's body in a bag"
The mother confirms that her husband confined Assia in a tank and probably killed her.
The mother confirms that her husband confined Assia in a tank and probably killed her. It was at number 48 rue Lecomte in Dampremy that a Russian family of seven children had lived in isolation since 2012. According to the Charleroi public prosecutor's office, the father reigned in terror and did not hesitate to resort to violence. violence to impose its patriarchal rules.
Arriving in Belgium in 2006, the family first settled in Tournai. Since 2011, Assia, the eldest daughter, has repeatedly run away, forcing youth support services to intervene.
When the couple and their children moved to Dampremy, a new runaway was reported to the Charleroi public prosecutor's office who tried to locate the minor, aged 14 at the time. "We had contact with one of her friends who claimed to have seen her in November 2012. The father confirmed that his daughter came home from time to time, but that she left almost immediately" , explains the divisional Crown prosecutor, Vincent Fiasse.
It was only this Tuesday that the case rebounded when another daughter of the couple went to the police to file a complaint against her father for indecent assault. She also declared that her big sister Assia had been raped… then killed by her father.
The case was immediately put under investigation and a search was carried out at the family home in Dampremy. “Material elements have come to confirm the theory of kidnapping followed by murder,” continues Vincent Fiasse.
Clearly, a tank which could have served as a cache was discovered in the cellar. 'And the mother's version confirms this hypothesis. She said she last saw her daughter's body in 2012, in a bag, in the presence of her husband.
Five years later, the police no longer have any hope of seeing Assia alive again. Working as a driver, the father was able to get rid of his daughter's body kilometers from Charleroi.
For now, the 51-year-old Chechen formally denies the facts. He was nevertheless imprisoned for murder, kidnapping, assault and rape, as well as for indecent assault on his second daughter. The mother, who clearly lived under the influence of her husband and who had almost no contact with the outside world, was incarcerated for failure to assist a person in danger.
The searches carried out by civil protection within the Dampremy home yielded nothing. Many investigative tasks must still be carried out but apart from the father's confession, the clues that could lead to Assia's body will be difficult to detect.
Neighbors 'shocked' by the affair
Number 48 Pierre-Joseph Lecompte Street is entirely sealed. On the street, the entrance is blocked off with blue and white banners marked 'police', and at the back: a courtyard. Here too, everything is sealed. Garage, back door, veranda…
On the street side, it’s quiet. Most of the houses on the street are unoccupied, for sale, under construction, or simply empty during the day. But a few steps from what the mother calls 'the house of terror', there is a mini-market, Chez Ismail. 'I'm completely stunned,' confides the seller, Kamel, between two customers. 'I don't know them personally, but they are people who came to the store regularly. They all looked normal, I'm shocked to hear what could have happened in this family. There is the presumption of innocence, of course, but what a story!'
The few people you can meet in the neighborhood only have the police raid, and the arrests that followed, on their lips.
'"t's crazy to think that something like this can happen just a stone's throw from home," explains young Kévin (not his real name) who lives on the side street. "I've had three months at home, it's terrible." For him, in this apparently disreputable neighborhood, with narrow streets where potholes are commonplace, things rarely happen. "Of course, there are a few fights, and the usual drug stories in Charleroi... But nothing like this! I knew these people a little, plus: I went to the same school as the girls. We weren't friends and I didn't go for coffee there or anything, but everything seemed normal in this family. It's awful."
