Mohammad Khawari (47) appeared in front of a judge at the Kortrijk courthouse, Belgium, on Tuesday afternoon. He faces charges of stabbing three people to death in Roeselare. Le Figaro reports that the man comes from Afghanistan.

This is not Khawari’s first time in court, as he stood in the exact same place in August to plead guilty to domestic violence, specifically beating his wife and children on more than one occasion. He was just sentenced last week on this charge to a year in prison, 6 months suspended, and an €800 fine. 

According to GVA, earlier reports had said a restraining order his family had against Khawari had also been lifted, but the court announced earlier today that this would only expire after 30 days, during which time his family could appeal. 

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However, what does appear to be the case is that various conditions that his sentence would have imposed were not enforced due to the language barrier with Khawari.

Belgian political activist Dries Van Langenhove posted on X that the accused is an Afghan migrant who spoke none of the languages used in Belgium, despite having lived there for over a decade. He added that “the conditions that normally apply, were NOT applied to him ‘because it is impossible to communicate with Khawari.'”

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Sadly, on Sunday afternoon, Khawari stabbed his wife, a 45-year-old acquaintance, and his former neighbor to death. The third murder took place in the evening, as police failed to initially find Khawari. He was finally arrested at 11 p.m. that night.

According to Dries, Khawari mistakenly believed this neighbor was the one who filed a complaint against him due to his yard being “infested with rats, (posing) a danger to everyone.”

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All charges against him have been classified as the most serious, and Khawari will remain in detention. He will appear before the council chamber next Friday, at which time it will be decided if he will remain in pre-trial detention. 

His lawyer, Iris Roegiers, declined to comment after the appearance before the Kortrijk investigating judge, reports GVA.