Suspended sentences and community service for Man City fan attackers
A court in Ghent has sentenced five people in connection with an attack on a 65-year-old Manchester City fan at a motorway carpark along the E40 in 2021. The victim ended up in a coma.
The attackers noticed the 65-year-old Man City supporter from Ninove (East Flanders) at the shop of the Drongen motorway services shortly after the Club Brugge-Manchester City match. One attacker took off with his scarf. A second attacker thumped the man. The victim fell down hitting his head and ending up in a coma.
These two defendants got a three-year suspended sentence. Others involved were sentenced to 90 hours community service and an 8,000 euro fine for failing to offer assistance to a person in need.
The 65-year-old victim spent days in coma and is still recovering from the incident as a result of considerable neurological damage.
The court noted the defendants had fled the scene in a cowardly act and that it took 4.5 minutes before anybody else notified the emergency services.
The victim’s lawyer says the court clearly gave prominence to the severity of the offences: “My client’s life will never be the same” he said.