1. Like what Sanda?
Sanda Dia was a 20-year engineering student at the Catholic University of Leuven. The son of the Belgian Annemie De Vel and Ousmane Dia from Mauritania, a country on the west coast of Africa, he was born on April 9, 1998 in Edegem, a place in the Belgian province of Antwerp.
As a third-year student, Sanda decides to join Reuzegom, an illustrious Leuven student association for men, founded in 1946. Reuzegom is known as a club for the Flemish ‘elite’, all sons of parents of wealthy backgrounds, such as lawyers, judges and businessmen.
Sanda is not your average Reuzegom candidate. His father is a worker and has a migration background. It is also common for first-year students to join the association. But Sanda is ambitious and hopes to make lifelong friends through Reuzegom. Friends that come in handy later in his career.
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2. What happened then?
It is early December 2018 when Sanda and two other candidate members of Reuzegom undergo a two-day initiation ritual. The first day of this so-called ‘baptism’ of the three ‘shafts’ is accompanied by drink, a lot of drink. For the three are meant to touch the world, tells one of the three later to the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
For example, Sanda drinks beer, gin and vodka at a fast pace on command. He vomits and collapses, whereupon the Reuzegom members pee all over him. A pair of scissors is also put in his hair. Inebriated, Sanda is eventually put to bed in his student room. He can’t drink water there at night: all taps in the house are closed, so that the hangover is heavier. They also smeared his room with chocolate and ketchup.
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On day two things really go wrong. The three each have to dig a hole at a chalet in the woods in Vorselaar. There they have to drink ‘shank porridge’, a very salty mixture of fish oil in which live goldfish, mice and an eel have been added with a blender. It is about 6 degrees Celsius outside and buckets of ice cold water are thrown over them in the holes, which also serve as toilets for the rest.
Sanda becomes hypothermic and is only pulled out of the well after hours. Once in the hospital, his body temperature has dropped to 27 degrees. The young man ends up in a coma and dies a few days later from multiple organ failure. The other two shafts are also included, but survive the ritual.
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3. Who are the suspects?
All eighteen Reuzegom members present have to answer to the criminal court and risk a maximum of ten years in prison. They are suspected of intentionally administering harmful substances resulting in death, accidental killing, degrading treatment and culpable negligence. They would also have called Sanda several times for ‘negro’, although according to the Belgian OM there is no question of a racist motive.
It turns out afterwards that the chairman of Reuzegom, one of the suspects, has ordered all images and messages from that night to be deleted. Also – while Sanda is still in hospital – the wells are closed, cleaners are hired to clean up his student room and the water taps are repaired. Meanwhile, the Giant Gommers are deleting their social media accounts and all leaving the WhatsApp group.
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All that follows is silence, apologies to the relatives never come. The group of Reuzegommers hides behind lawyers, falls apart and soon the student association is also completely dissolved. In 2019, involved university members will first receive community service and will have to write a paper. The criticism of that light sentence is enormous, to which the KU Leuven still rings to suspensions.
Meanwhile, Sanda’s death sparks outrage and a heated debate over hazing and class justice. In addition, much attention is paid to the attitude of the students, who have done everything they can to erase traces and take absolutely no responsibility for Sanda’s death.
4. What’s happening today?
Almost three years after Sanda’s death, the trial is over many delays then finally started. After the introductory hearing at the end of September, experts will speak today in the court of Hasselt. Think of the forensic doctor (‘law doctor’), toxicologist and other medical experts involved. The defense of the suspects will want to question the medical reports.
Lawyers’ pleas will follow from April 22 next year. In view of the many suspects, a verdict is then expected within a few months.
With the cooperation of VTM crime journalist Faroek Özgünes.
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