For his obsessive collection of child pornography, a 53-year-old man from Hoogezand has been sentenced to one year in prison, eight months of which are conditional. The judge also imposed TBS on the man with conditions (without compulsory treatment).
The man was arrested in March 2021 with 210,000 images of child pornography. He collected them from 2015 onwards. The collection came to light at the beginning of that year during an American investigation. The FBI informed the Dutch investigation service that large amounts of child pornography were stored on the IP address (computer address) of the man in Hoogezand.
Unreachable
Most of the images were of girls under the age of twelve. “I am interested in naked young girls. But they are out of reach for me. But my preference is for adult women,” the man told the court in Assen two weeks ago. The man was caught collecting child pornography in 2007. He was treated for this, without success.
Nothing helped
The man was convicted more than ten years ago for the sexual abuse of his own daughter. He was then given a TBS with conditions, without compulsory treatment. Apparently this didn’t help either. The man almost immediately went back to downloading child pornography. He responded to his interest, the man said.
Not abused
He didn’t want to touch children again and looking at pictures seemed less serious to him. He had no idea that children had actually been abused before the videos and pictures he collected. De Hoogezandster was afraid that the banned porn would no longer be available in the future and started collecting. The man struggles with pedophilia and autism.
Too severe measure
The man uses his high intelligence to convince himself that sexuality with children does not have to be punishable, or he downplays this, the judge finds. Two weeks ago, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded a year in prison and TBS with compulsory treatment. The judge believes that treatment in a closed clinic is too severe a measure in this case. De Hoogezandster also says he is open to treatment.