Junior Pashi Kabunda, the individual nicknamed “the monster of Brussels,” has been released from prison under conditional terms, a decision that has sparked significant controversy. Now, the 36-years-old Pashi Kabunda was recently permitted to leave Huy prison, where he was serving a life sentence for multiple homicides.
The list of his crimes is truly shocking. Born in the Congo on May 6, 1990, he had moved to Belgium and by the age of 16, he had murdered Benjamin Rawitz-Castel, a Jewish pianist of Polish descent who was returning from a recital. He committed the assault on Aug. 29, 2006, with 22-year-old Laurent Oniema, who beat the victim unconscious, dragged him to a basement, and then beat him again when he woke up. Rawitz-Castel asked the men before he died, “What did I do?” Instead of helping the man, they stole his Honda Civic. That was just his first murder, but many more would follow.
Instead of being imprisoned, he was institutionalized in a children’s care home after being tried in March 2008.
In September 2009, Kabunda received a pass to leave the children’s home to visit the family of his girlfriend, Céline Mamadou-Hendrickx, in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. That turned out to be a fatal mistake on the part of Belgian authorities.
On Sept. 20, 2009, while on leave from the center, he raped and murdered 79-year-old Marcelle Deconinck, the grandmother of his girlfriend, Céline.
Pashi Kabunda then beat and suffocated his own 18-month-old daughter Anaïs to death over the suspicion that she was not his child. However, a DNA test would later determine it was indeed his child. During the incident, he also tried to strangle Céline and left her for dead.
In December 2010, the justice system sentenced Pashi Kabunda to life in prison, which legally equated to 30 years and one month. During the trial, he showed no remorse and was found guilty of double murder and attempted murder. However, under Belgian law, prisoners who have served over half of their time are eligible for parole.
In 2024, he became eligible for release. This year, 2026, the courts have agreed to release him despite protest from the victims and the prosecution. The prosecution has already alleged that he has violated his conditional release and is fighting to ensure he is imprisoned once again. His current conditions include an electronic ankle monitor, supervision from a probationary officer, and therapy.
The victims are in complete shock that “The Monster of Brussels” is freely roaming the streets once again at only the age of 36, which means he has a long life of freedom ahead of him. According to Brussels Today, the relatives of the victims say the conditional release has brought back immense pain and anxiety.
During an earlier parole evaluation in 2022, David Mamadou-Hendrickx—who lost his mother and his granddaughter in the attacks, while his daughter Céline survived—voiced his profound distress. He heavily criticized the terminology used in the judicial system, explicitly targeting the use of the word “life imprisonment,” which he argued becomes meaningless if a convict is allowed to walk free before their natural death.
To add to the shock, family and friends of Céline, who is still alive, only learned by chance that he was granted unsupervised day outings from prison as early as 2021. That means he was out on the streets and could have targeted Céline or anyone else if he chose to do so — all with no supervision from the authorities during the time he was outside the prison.
Pashi Kabunda had already been granted unsupervised day outings starting as early as 2021.
A review hearing about the man’s release is slated to take place shortly, leaving the final determination with the judge. Defense attorneys who represented Pashi Kabunda throughout his legal proceedings have declined to comment on the matter.
Pashi Kabunda is far from the only “monster” in Europe either. Known as the “Monster of Cherbourg,” one of the most horrifying accused criminals in France, Oumar Ndiaye, became infamous for his brutality.
On Aug. 4, 2023, the then 18-year-old Ndiaye broke into the home of 29-year-old Mégane in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. Standing at 1.90 meters (6’2″), Ndiaye used his size to overpower the victim, brutally beating her across her body and face.
He then repeatedly raped her, both through sexual intercourse and then with a 29-inch-long broom handle.
Mégane arrived at the hospital with life-threatening internal injuries, including perforations of her colon, small intestine, peritoneum, and diaphragm. She also suffered a collapsed lung and fractured ribs.
Emergency responders who attended the scene were offered psychological care and support, with many emergency responders also breaking down in tears at the condition of the victim, France Bleu reported at the time.
“Investigators are shocked, they have never seen so much barbarity,” one source familiar with the case told France Bleu.
After spending a month in a coma on the brink of death, she finally regained consciousness on Sept. 6, 2023.
Shortly after emerging from her coma, her father said: “(The government) not communicating about this attack gives credit to all these sexual predators and other parasites of society who plague the streets. A wake-up call to the government about the fact that we leave this kind of individual, with a heavy criminal past, in complete freedom, would be welcome. ‘Trust in justice,’ we were told… We only want that.”
Though she survived, her life has been shattered. She has undergone numerous surgeries and has been forced to move back in with her mother. Today, she suffers from recurrent nightmares and severe depression, requiring ongoing medication. She no longer leaves her house alone and has had to give up both her career and her passion for sports.
