The 23-year-old man allegedly attacked the woman on Monday at their home in the eastern province of Liège. Prosecutors say the man knifed the woman several times in the face and neck after an argument broke out. The woman is fighting for life in hospital, but her baby did not survive. Belgian reports say the man's parents called the police after finding out what had happened. The suspect told police he remembered grabbing the knife from the kitchen but claimed to have forgotten what happened next because he had been drinking alcohol, reports say.
The man, named only as Aslan, was of Chechen origin and was not known to the police for acts of domestic violence, the Sudinfo website reported. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder. But prosecutors say no charge can be brought for the death of the unborn baby, which was not yet recognised as a person under Belgium criminal law. Belgian criminal lawyer Rik Vanreusel told a baby that has not yet been born does not exist as a legal entity in the eyes of criminal law in Belgium.
That means people can't be prosecuted for harming or killing an unborn baby, intentionally or not, he said.Instead, women who lost their babies in such cases sometimes sued their alleged attackers for damages, he said. He said this legal principle about unborn babies was "a choice we make". He cited abortions, which are legal in Belgium, as one consideration in the complex legal question of personhood. UK-based criminal defence lawyer, Alison Mafham, said there were reasons why governments may not want to pass laws that legally recognise unborn babies.
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