© RR
Aarschot/Rotselaar –
A 52-year-old man from Rotselaar had to appear before the Leuven court on Wednesday morning for allegedly trying to run over two De Lijn inspectors. It is striking that the man himself was a bus driver for De Lijn for 21 years, but was fired after a conviction for assault and battery on a passenger.
Two inspectors from De Lijn were ready to stop a bus for an inspection on March 15, 2022 at Boudewijnlaan in Aarschot. They waved at the bus driver to get him to stop, but suddenly had to jump away. This was because the car driving in front of the bus suddenly turned towards them.
“That driver deliberately wanted to drive into my clients,” the victims’ lawyer said during the trial. “Fortunately the woman was able to jump away just in time, the man pushed off the car with his hand and was able to avoid a serious collision. He only had pain in his hand, although this was a big shock. That driver wanted to mow my clients off the road.”
Bus driver myself
It is striking that WC (52), the man who drove the car, was himself a bus driver for De Lijn for 21 years. But he was fired from there in 2019 after being convicted of three counts of assault and battery. (Read more below the box)
This happened twice while the man from Rotselaar was working as a driver. A year earlier, he had hit a passenger, who was incapacitated for five days as a result. He had also once run into a car because it had hindered him. He then punched the driver, who was injured in the face.
Counterattack
C. certainly acknowledges that he made a mistake. But he now emphatically denied that he deliberately wanted to hit the two inspectors. What’s more, C. even counterattacked head-on. “The man was standing on the sidewalk and stepped forward to hit my mirror,” he said. “There wasn’t even a bus behind me.”
The prosecutor did not agree with the defendant’s explanation. She was even of the opinion that the facts could be reclassified to attempted manslaughter and demanded a prison sentence of 15 months. The two inspectors asked for compensation of 1,250 euros. Judgment will follow on May 15.