“I was 12 years old when it started. I looked up to you and at first I was afraid that I wouldn’t be believed because you were known as a good judo trainer.”
A crying father said this on Thursday in the court in Zwolle on behalf of his daughter, who was allegedly sexually abused for years as an adolescent by her judo teacher Johan JF. (39). According to the Public Prosecution Service, JF, who was born and raised in the municipality of Hoogeveen, sexually assaulted four underage students, all teenage girls, between 2015 and March 2023.
The now 22-year-old woman, whose father spoke during the criminal case, was the first of the four to go to the police with her story last summer. JF was arrested last March. The man was released under the conditions that he would stop taking judo lessons.
He also had to inform his then employer. JF was fired. He has worked extensively with vulnerable young people, including as a supervisor at Van Boeijen in Assen. A female client reported a sexual assault against him a few years ago, but in that case the Public Prosecution Service ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Judo school Assen
At the time of his arrest, the suspect had been active as a trainer at the Judo School Assen for years. After a report from the Sports Jurisdiction Institute, he was immediately suspended this spring. The judo school was only told that he was suspected of sexual misconduct. The parents and students all received a letter about this.
In court on Thursday, it emerged that one of his pupils from the Asser judo school also fell victim to sexual assault by the trainer between 2019 and March of this year. The now 17-year-old girl told her story to the police when JF was free again. During and after class he allegedly touched her in intimate places.
The other three victims were members of a judo club in Dedemsvaart and Slagharen. He said he had had an affair with one of them, the young woman who first reported the crime. According to him, it had not gone further than French kissing and some superficial physical contact. The girl was around 14 years old at the time.
JF told the court about the age difference: “In retrospect it was unwise. I felt very bad about myself during that period. It gave me distraction. I’m disgusted with myself for doing that.” According to the victim’s statements, the sexual contact went much further than the then judo trainer admits. It always went one step further. It started with touching her breasts during the judo lesson, first on the clothing and later underneath.
Judo camp in Dwingeloo
Extensive sexual acts were also performed in the dressing room and in his car, at a garden party in Fluitenberg to mark the end of the judo season. At a judo camp in Dwingeloo, he deflowered her in the toilet. The girl started to feel worse and worse. Ultimately she told him to stop. He was also spoken to about his behavior. Not long afterwards he left Dedemsvaart as a trainer.
The ex-judo teacher maintains that he did not perform any sexual acts with this student. About the other three he states that nothing at all happened. Why would they make this up?, the judge asked him. “It’s a mystery to me. I don’t understand all those explanations. It’s one big question mark for me. It’s like a bad movie.”
The public prosecutor calls the victims’ statements consistent and reliable. “There is a pattern in the actions and the circumstances. The suspect was a judo trainer and the girls were on average 14 years old. Touching took place before, during and after the training sessions. He kept going a little further. He touched their buttocks and breasts, even under clothing if he got the chance. That’s how it all started. He went one step further with two girls.”
Devious and calculating
According to the officer, the teens became entangled in the suspect’s web. Some still feel guilty towards him. “As a judo trainer, it was his job to teach them to defend themselves and gain self-confidence. He deliberately abused the relationship of dependency and acted deviously and calculatingly. The girls had to go through a whole process to stop it.”
JF takes no responsibility, the officer notes. “What the suspect admits, he dismisses as an affair. What do you mean an affair? An adult man, in his thirties, with a 14 year old girl. He shows no remorse or compassion.” JF was sentenced to four years in prison, of which one year was conditional, for committing indecency over a longer period with multiple victims. The Public Prosecution Service will then no longer allow him to teach judo to minors for 5 years.
Pronunciation: January 18.