A 50-year-old handyman business owner who meets a 17-year-old boy with no handyman experience at a gas station and immediately hires him. Remarkable, but only the beginning of a harrowing story. During a job in Bergeijk, they spend the night in a hotel and that’s where things go wrong. After a few drinks, Marko de P. gets pawed. The boy wants to sleep, but is being abused, according to the Public Prosecution Service. Justice demands a prison sentence of 15 months and TBS.
It all started a little over a year ago. Marko approached the boy at a gas station in Eindhoven. Despite stating that he had no DIY experience, Marko offered him a job. In August 2022, the boy could start.
The two had private conversations. “On the second working day we talked about our adoption history,” the victim stated in the court of Den Bosch on Tuesday. Just like Marko, he was adopted.
It gave the boy a familiar and safe feeling. But pretty soon came the sexual remarks. “I tried to laugh them off, but your words turned into actions. I got slaps on my ass and kisses on my neck,” the victim later said. He said he was not interested in men.
“You are a nice boy.”
At the end of August, Marko had a big job in Bergeijk, so he suggested sleeping in a hotel with the whole team. “We do that more often. Having some beers after work, good food and team building,” Marko told the young man’s parents when he asked for permission.
It turned out that only Marko and the 17-year-old boy were sleeping there. Together in one room. Marko made comments about how much money it would cost him if Marko gave the boy a blowjob. Marko later denied that, but there are audio clips of it.
With an unpleasant feeling and his clothes on, the boy lay down on the bed. The moment Marko said to go to sleep, he gave his employee a kiss and a hug: “You are a sweet boy.”
“The French kiss was so intense that I almost choked.”
But the audio recordings show something different. The victim says: “He started stroking my stomach and I indicated that I did not want that. But he kept going and I froze.” Finally, Marko sucked and kissed the boy. “The French kiss was so intense that I almost choked.” Marko denies, but DNA traces indicate otherwise.
After a while, the boy fled into the bathroom, where he warned his parents by phone. They eventually picked him up.
They lashed out at the suspect this Tuesday morning in the court in Den Bosch. “Our son was in total panic. Our tree of a guy was like a scared bird in the car. From an open, pleasant and friendly boy, he became a closed teenager with whom we sometimes couldn’t get in touch for weeks. You have that on your conscience.”
“I thought my life wasn’t worth anything anymore.”
And the boy also turned to him: “I thought my life was worthless. I lost friends because I used to smoke a lot to ease the pain.”
The 50-year-old suspect was uncomfortable. “I’m not proud of it,” says Marko de P. “I should never have been in this situation, I blame myself very much.”
Justice thinks that Marko offered the boy the job with only one goal: to get him into bed. That is why the Public Prosecution Service demands a prison sentence of 15 months and TBS. Previously, Marko had been in prison for 1.5 years for sexual abuse of minors.
The court will rule in two weeks.