Former Miss Belgium has to spend one month behind bars in libel case
A court in Bruges has sentenced Ilse De Meulemeester, a 51-year-old former Miss Belgium, to one month in prison. She also needs to pay 3,000 euros in fines. De Meulemeester lost a court case against the boss of the Antwerp chip shop 'Number One', Jacobus Perdaems.
De Meulemeester had taken Perdaems to court under charges of stalking. However, he denied the accusations taking De Meulemeester to court for defamation. He argued her complaints were false, and actually an attempt to dent his reputation. The court now followed his point of view.
Perdaems and De Meulemeester met in 2012. The chip shop owner even claims they had a short relationship, adding he gave her several presents for a total of 2.8 million euros. However, he ended their friendship after which the problems started.
De Meulemeester claimed that he was standing at the door of her apartment in Knokke at night. "While in fact it was her brother who was at her door. My client was in Spain at that moment", Perdaems' lawyer said.