The 57-year-old former physiotherapist Bennie Z. from Emmer-Compascuum stays that he did not work sexually cross-border during the treatments. He admitted to the court that he could have done some things differently. “I balanced on the border and was perhaps on the wrong side.”
The Old Physio was sentenced in November 2023 to 3.5 years in prison for sexual abuse of thirteen female clients. Half a year of the punishment is conditional. The judge then found that in his practice in Klazienaveen the man felt the women forthrow, assaulted and raped in two cases. The man also received a professional ban of eight years. Z. appealed against this because he was wrongly convicted of his experience.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, Z. had made sixteen female victims. The court in Assen spoke to him free of assault of three women. The OM has appealed against these acquittals. The suspect has been able to wait for the appeal in freedom. He appeared at the hearing with his lawyer. A large part of the sixteen complains also came to the Court of Appeal in Leeuwarden.
The man remained with his earlier denial. “I only wanted the best for clients,” he said about this. The immorities of which Z. is suspected happened from January 2016 to October 2021. All victims ended up naked on the treatment table. According to the women, they were unexpectedly approached sexually. So abruptly that they could not defend themselves. This was mainly due to the victim statement of which several of which made use of.
“The name I have given you is crazy because I can no longer pronounce your name,” said one of the victims. A second woman: “I went to the physiotherapist with heel spur and then you will be assaulted. You can check.”
The statements sounded emotional: “I was so off the map, I only dared to tell my husband after two weeks. I was afraid he wouldn’t understand.” There is still a lot of anger and misunderstanding among the victims: “How can this man live on with lies and acting”.
The women fully trusted the physiotherapist. The man was known as skilled. In 2018, the first report on sexual cross -border behavior by Z. came to the police. That was not enough for the police to start an investigation. Two years later, a second woman reported to the police with a comparable story. The case was widely measured by the press and the declarations rolled in.
Especially the media attention broke Z., the man said during the court case in Assen and now also at the court. At the time, he suggested in Assen that the women reported it and tuned their stories to each other. That still makes the victims furious to this day. Z. did not want to respond to this for the higher judges. The session was then interrupted and continues tomorrow morning with the views of the OM and the defense.