Teen boy murdered for mp3 player at Brussels Central

13 April 2006

BRUSSELS – A 17-year-old boy, waiting with a friend for another friend’s train to arrive at Brussels Central Station, was stabbed to death late on Wednesday afternoon for not handing over his mp3 player.

The bustling ticket hall, that normally sees around 140,000 people passing through it each day, was at near-capacity at the time of the attack.
 
Two other youths approached the victim and his friend in the ticket hall and attempted to snatch the youth’s mp3 player at about 4.30pm.

One of the robbers produced a knife and stabbed the teenager in the cardiac region when he resisted. The 17-year-old was taken to Saint Peter’s Hospital, but died at about 9pm.

Police say that a good description of the two culprits has been given by the victim’s friend and another witness. So far the perpetrators remain at large, but police are hopeful that the incident was recorded on surveilance cameras.

The Brussels public prosecution office has noticed an increase in the number of cases where youngsters are forced to hand over popular accessories such as mobile phones and mp3 players, but this is the first time that it has brought such grave consequences.
 
According to Belgian rail NMBS-SNCB, the fatal stabbing in the Brussels Central Station is an isolated incident.

Rail spokesperson Leen Uytterhoeven said that, despite the “obvious shock” felt by those working at the station and the heavy volume of traffic passing through it, Brussels Central is not an unsafe station.
 
[Copyright Expatica News 2006]
 
Subject: Belgian news