Actor Thijs Römer (44) is suspected of online sexual abuse of three underage fans from Drenthe, Friesland and North Brabant. Today the trial is before the court in Assen.
According to the Public Prosecution Service, the forty-year-old was guilty of sexually transgressive behavior towards the three former teenagers. One of the declarants is a now 21-year-old woman from North Drenthe. She was fourteen years old when she was sexually harassed by the actor, she says on social media. She was a huge fan of the actor and contacted him via Twitter.
She would have actually visited him when she was fifteen. Afterwards she realized that this contact was ‘not healthy’. This was the reason for her to go to the police at the beginning of last year and, as she says, throw all her evidence on the table. Her report was followed by further reports from two young women in Friesland and North Brabant. The Drenthe is the youngest of the three.
For sending nude photos, she could get an extra role in the series Murder woman, in which Römer played the leading role, the woman says on social media. “I’ve never done this by the way,” she continues her story. If it turns out that she actually provided the actor with nude photos as a teenager, Römer can also be charged with producing and possessing child pornography.
The incidents allegedly took place in the period from November 2015 to the end of November 2017. On Twitter, Römer denied these allegations last May. Inciting a minor to engage in sexual acts alone can result in a maximum prison sentence of four years. Child pornography also carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Online sexual abuse is a criminal offense that has been punished more often by the courts in recent years. In most cases, young people are approached by an unknown person, posing as a peer.
In October 2021, a similar case was heard before the court in Groningen. A well-known YouTube streamer was charged with fornication with two followers aged eleven and fourteen from Groningen and Drenthe. The YouTuber was followed live by thousands, mostly young people, during gaming sessions. In addition, he also maintained contact with his followers via WhatsApp. He also managed to physically make an appointment with these two victims.
In the case of a third victim, a 14-year-old boy from Drenthe, it remained an online incitement to sexual abuse. He seduced the boys by showering them with compliments and free gaming sessions. The man was sentenced to two years in prison and TBS with conditions. The TBS measure had to do with the disorders that were diagnosed in the man.