Horror, anger and sadness alternated in the courtroom on this first day of hearing against teacher assistant Wesley W. De Helmonder, 26 years old, is suspected of sexually abusing twenty young children. At primary school and as a babysitter. Parents reacted emotionally during their right to speak: “We have brought a monster into our home,” said one of them.
W. stood before the judge in Den Bosch for the first time on Thursday for the abuse case in Helmond. The 26-year-old Helmonder was a welcome guest in the Brandevoort district. He did a lot of volunteer work in town and the kids would run away with him.
During the hearing, the horrific details of the abuse were discussed. How he ‘wobbled’ the children in class and how he ‘tickled’ them. W. admits that he sometimes made a game of it when he rubbed their underwear or touched their genitals with his fingers. Girls were also allowed to touch Master Wesley’s genitals. W. was all about the excitement, he said.
“She was still in diapers.”
The children were not allowed to talk about it at home. “It was their little secret,” several children later told police.
W.’s abuse lasted a total of ten years. In the classroom at the school where he worked, the Mondomijn child center in Helmond. But also at his babysitting addresses.
According to the judge, W. had a preference for girls between the ages of 6 and 10. But there were also very young victims from the age of two. “She was still in diapers,” the judge said, asking W.
“We have seen those images and they are burned into our retinas.”
The 26-year-old teacher assistant photographed and filmed children as he sat with them. He also had 7,000 photos and 15,000 videos containing child pornography on mobile phones, laptops and external drives that were not made by himself. He downloaded the images via websites and exchanged them with others. “If you want to get something, you have to deliver,” he said.
W. about the child pornography on his computer: “It was to see if I could stop the physical abuse,” W. replied to the judge. “After that I kept looking.”
The judge did not see the downloaded images themselves, but did read the description in the file. She calls it ‘horrible images’. “Even the penetration of small children. There are small children between the ages of 0 and 2.”
W. assures the parents of the victims that he has not shared any files of his own abuse online.
In court, emotions were often clearly audible and palpable. Especially during the parents’ right to speak. A father says that he was in the car with his daughter. “Talking about giving hugs. Suddenly my daughter told me that you, Wesley, had touched her,” he turns to W. “This can’t be true, I thought. I thought: maybe she means something else. Not this.”
“You took away her innocence.”
W. often remained bent over, looking at his table. “I look at you, do you dare to look at me too, Wesley?” says a father during his victim statement. Then Wesley turned his head for a moment.
“We as parents have to live with the guilt that we brought a monster into our home to take care of our most loved ones. You felt it necessary to film our youngest 2-year-old daughter during the abuse. We have seen those images and they are burned into our retinas. I hope our words are also burned into your retinas.”
According to reports from the psychologist and psychiatrist, W. suffers from a pedophilic disorder and the chance of recurrence is not very high. But he does need punishment and help and guidance, is the advice. The probation service also recommends admission and strict conditions such as a no-contact order and participation in checks on internet use.
Another parent said her 8-year-old daughter said she doesn’t want to continue living.
“You took away her innocence.”
Several parents say they feel like they failed to protect their own daughters. All kinds of parents asked for a sentence to be imposed, some of them never want him to be released again. But there was also a couple who cursed him: As far as they were concerned, he could ‘rot in hell’.
Children were not at the trial. An abused girl gave her mother a message at home for the audience: ‘Just tell them that it has caused me a lot of trouble.’
“I’m very, very sorry.”
W. spoke a lot and admitted the vast majority of the abuse. “I have an urge that I have struggled with for a long time. I could not place that urge and I could not stop it.”
The former teaching assistant said he regretted his actions several times. “I have a lot of sympathy from the bottom of my heart. I am very, very sorry. This should never have happened.”
The trial continues on Monday. Then W. hears what punishment is being demanded against him. It is not yet known when the court will make a ruling.
Here you can read all the stories about the abuse case surrounding Wesley W. from Helmond.
Victims protected
During the trial, the children are not referred to by their first and last names. They have been given a unique number with a number, for example A6, a primary school child and 03 a babysitter child. This has been done specifically to protect privacy. The codes have not been shared with the media.