A prison sentence of four years has been demanded against a 32-year-old man from Lutjegast, one year of which is conditional with a probationary period of three years. The man must also undergo compulsory treatment for his paedosexual deviation, according to the Public Prosecution Service.
The case came to light at camping Witterzomer in Assen, where his sister had a pitch and where the suspect regularly stayed. The sister had children of her own and children came and went on the campsite, with whom the suspect treated ‘like a crazy uncle’. The man would be popular with the children. A true friend of children, he was characterized by his surroundings. “They also came to you because you had a Nintendo,” says the judge.
At the end of August last year, he went to the swimming lake with his sister’s children. “Then I took a shower, I was covered in sand,” says the suspect. A 7-year-old boy would have cycled after him. They went into the family shower together. “He followed me.”
From then on, the stories diverge. The boy came back to his parents with the story that the man touched him. The suspect denies that: “I didn’t touch his penis, not his ass. I only soaped his back and shoulders,” said the suspect.
The parents of the boy filed a report, after which the police seized the Lutjegaster’s computer and telephone. It turned out that in 2013, when the suspect was 21, the man went to the Walibi amusement park in Biddinghuizen with a 14-year-old boy. Later, at his home, the 14-year-old boy was deflowered, according to Skype conversations secured by the police.
It also turned out that, shortly before he fell through the basket at the end of August 2022, he played online sex games with a 13-year-old boy. The suspect got in touch with the boy through a chat site. Soon the chats took on a more sexual character. “I was not actively looking for it,” says the man from Lutjegast in Groningen. He would also have secretly filmed the victim.
One of the three judges does not hide his surprise at the suspect’s story. “You don’t enter that site because you’re looking for a marble boyfriend. Why don’t you drop out? Not even when you find out he’s 13? And then you say you weren’t looking for it. I’m sitting here amazed.”
1400 files with child pornography were found on the suspect’s computer. This also included material for children under the age of twelve. “That was by-catch,” explains the suspect, who says he is more interested in teenagers. Material that he made himself was also found.
For example, he is said to have incited an 11-year-old unstable son of a good friend to perform sexual acts in front of a camera. These images were found on the suspect’s computer. “We strongly suspect that more has happened,” said the boy’s mother in a victim statement.
The court will rule in two weeks.