Maxime Meiland does not have to correct a passage in her biography about how she was raped at the age of 15. She also does not have to withdraw her biography from the market or pay compensation.
The court in The Hague decided this in a case brought by a man accused of rape by Meiland.
The riot started with Maxime’s biography Maxime Abused, derailed and now… happy in which she says, among other things, that she was raped at the age of 15 by a now 28-year-old man, whom she does not mention by name. That man was identified anonymously, but did not accept the allegation and hired lawyer Peter Schouten to demand a correction and to report defamation and slander. He believes that the passage in the book can be traced back to him and says he is bothered by it. According to him, sex did take place, but that would have been consensual.
‘Missed income’
The man demanded that the book be withdrawn from sale and that a reprint should only be made once that passage has been removed. He also demanded a correction and an amount of more than 90,000 euros in material and immaterial damagepartly due to lost income.
Meiland (28) responded with it still report rape against the manalmost fourteen to after it was supposed to have taken place. The Public Prosecution Service has now decided to actually investigate that case. Witnesses have already been heard.
Victim lawyer Mr. Sébas Diekstra and media lawyer Mr. Allon Kijl, who assisted Maxime, said in response to the verdict: “This was the only correct statement from a legal point of view that could be made. It is good to note that the preliminary relief judge has rejected all of the plaintiff’s claims. Granting those claims would have resulted in an unprecedented restriction of freedom of expression with far-reaching consequences. If the judge had decided differently, other victims may no longer dare to come forward because of the threat of legal consequences.”
“Maxime only shared her negative sexual experiences in her book without making it explicit with whom she had those experiences. As the judge also noted, the situation that Maxime experienced as rape was known ten years ago within the man’s group of friends.”
Diekstra and Kijl say they still cannot understand why the alleged rapist continuously sought out the media for the summary proceedings and also allowed himself to be photographed in a recognizable manner by tabloids. “Through his own reckless behavior, he made himself recognizable to the general public and would eventually be recognized and captured by various photographers and a camera crew from RTL Boulevard. If your privacy is so precious to you, this is of course a very unwise step and you cannot complain about the consequences.”
The passage in the book that it’s all about:
“While my eye fell on a bush on the side of a ditch, I noticed that guy who just came out of prison was following me. He pulled me further behind that bush, lay on his back and pulled me onto his waist and started kissing me. All I could feel was horror and fear. He took off my top clothes and opened my bra. I had pads in my bra at the time because I was quite insecure about my cup size. I remember feeling a sense of shame because the pads fell out of my bra. Bizarre of course! He laid me down on the grass and raped me. His saliva dripped down my cheek. I remember looking over and seeing the sheep walking in the meadow. I will never forget that image as long as I live.”
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