Our reporters Jordi Versteegden and Saskia Belleman are also present in court to report on this second day. Follow all the news surrounding this second day of the hearing in our live blog at the bottom of the article.
According to lawyers Geert-Jan and Carry Knoops, it appears that there was a conscious act of revenge by the victim’s mother to harm Borsato, and she would have sent her daughter to report the incident. “That was not a spontaneous decision, as the complainant said.”
During the second day of the criminal trial, it sometimes seemed to focus mainly on the role of the alleged victim’s mother, rather than that of Borsato. Carry Knoops: “She slowly pulled everyone into her trap and it was difficult to escape from that.”
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Geert-Jan Knoops: “The fact that the daughter did not report it sooner because she feared that her mother would lose her income is complete nonsense. Only when she was led to believe that Borsato had caused more victims was her mother persuaded her.”
Marco Borsato appealed to loose sexual morals
During the first day of the trial, Borsato regularly referred to the loose sexual morals within the girl’s family. According to his lawyers, there is no question that Borsato got carried away by this. On the contrary.
He is said to have regularly confronted both mother and daughter about “inappropriate clothing” and the mother about her parenting style. Just like other friends did. “But then they were put in their place very hard.”
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According to Geert-Jan Knoops, the Public Prosecution Service’s conclusion is incorrect that Marco Borsato admitted the fornication during a four-hour “bag on the table conversation” with the mother. The lawyers had legal psychologist Peter van Koppen analyze the conversation.
‘Marco Borsato focused on restoring confidence’
He concluded that “Borsato tried to spare no expense to prevent an escalation. He mainly focused on restoring trust.” According to Knoops, the conversation indicates that Borsato put his own interests aside out of genuine concerns about the daughter.
The fact that Borsato did not “categorically” deny the allegations, to the surprise of the Public Prosecution Service, is not relevant, Knoops thought. “I cannot imagine that there is a legal gradation between denial and flat-out denial,” says Knoops. “What kind of constitutional state do we live in if simply denying is seen as a confession?”
The defense stated that the diary in which the girl allegedly described the fornication is not authentic. The Public Prosecution Service uses it as important evidence of support. Experts hired by the Public Prosecution Service found no evidence of tampering, but the defense expert did.
For example, a passage that writes about the fornication “four or six years ago” has been crossed out and replaced by “five months.” In this way, according to Knoops, it should appear as if the girl wrote the passage at the time of the fornication, while in reality it was later.
‘Officers would have put words in their mouths’
The defense criticized the interrogation of the complainant by the police. The officers allegedly put words in her mouth and did not ask sufficient questions. In contrast to the Public Prosecution Service, the lawyers found the girl’s statements far from consistent. The alleged fornication is said to have become increasingly exaggerated.
This afternoon, the prosecutors and lawyers may still respond to each other. The last word goes to Borsato.