A trans-identified pedophile in Belgium is asking to be spared jail after kidnapping a boy and being caught in possession of child sexual abuse material. The unnamed man, 35, was previously spared jail time after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy.
While the man’s identity has been protected by the court, it is known that he had worked as a bus driver for a juvenile facility in Ghent. During the course of his work, he routinely came into contact with young boys with whom he attempted to develop intimate relationships with.
The man, who has been referred to as “D.” by Belgian media, was arrested after an investigation into a teenage boy who had gone missing from the juvenile facility in 2022. Police were reportedly aware that D. had private contact with several minors from the facility, and investigated his whereabouts in connection to the disappearance. It was later discovered that he had taken the missing minor across the border to Germany for three days.
He was ultimately detained in Lebbeke after he returned to Belgium and his vehicle was stopped at a routine traffic control point. The missing boy was in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, and he told police that he had been effectively forced to drive as “only then would [he] stop rubbing my leg.” D. was ultimately charged with kidnapping and the sexual abuse of two minors from the same juvenile facility.
Police later conducted a search of D.’s home and found child sexual abuse images on his devices, including exploitative photos and videos of local minors. He was then charged with possessing child pornography.
In December of 2024, D. was acquitted of one of the charges of child sexual abuse after he claimed that he had no sexual intentions with one of the teen boys he had groped.
“He was a nice boy. I did that purely out of friendship,” he said. His defense also argued that what had happened between the adult and the minor “did not fall under a sexual qualification,” to which a judge agreed.
D. was sentenced to 40 months in prison for the possession of child pornography and the kidnapping, but has lodged an appeal and is requesting probation instead of incarceration.
In court this month, his lawyers argued that D.’s transition had stunted his development, and that he sought out the company of teenagers because he saw himself as their peer.
Referring to the man with feminine pronouns, his lawyer said: “She herself is not a sexual monster. Because of her transition to woman, she is behind her development.” He went on to claim that the man also acted like a “mother figure” to the boys, and that he sought the sexual company of minors because “emotionally, in her eyes, they were all teenagers.”
But D. has a history of child sex offenses dating back to 2021, when he was convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy in Dendermonde. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for the rape, of which only 2 had to be served in custody. But on appeal, the sentence was fully suspended and the man was allowed to walk free. The next year, he would be arrested for the kidnapping, child sexual abuse, and child pornography possession.
In court last week, the man asked for a “new start with proper guidance,” and attempted to use his transgender identity as a mitigating factor. He apologized for his actions, and said “I want to move forward in life again.”
The court in Ghent is expected to pass down a verdict on the appeal on October 21.
In reporting on the case, Belgium’s Nieusblad edited their original headline to remove any references to the predator’s transgender status, changing the reference from “trans woman” to “woman.” Previous coverage by other outlets has also avoided mentioning D.’s transgender identity.
While reporting on a segment of the trial last year, HLN published comment from UFC Antwerp criminologist Minne De Boeck, who referred to the case as though it involved a female pedophile.
“The number of women who commit sex acts may be a smaller phenomenon than male perpetrators, but it is an underestimated problem,” De Boeck said, failing to mention D. was in fact a male. “With female perpetrators, different motives also play than with men. Very often there is a less pronounced sexual motive, but the commission of such acts has more to do with, for example, a personality disorder or substance use. For example, female perpetrators are less likely to have a pedophile preference. They usually appear to be more in search of affection rather than the mere sexual. And more often there are also psychiatric problems. Problems in the past, for example in relationships or personal abuse, can also be a possible explanation.”
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