Can Jeroen Rietbergen, Linda de Mol’s musical sweetheart, return to work now that he has not yet been prosecuted for rape? “No, all the doors there are closed.”
It is strange: the Public Prosecution Service decided to prosecute former Voice band leader Jeroen Rietbergen for rape last year, but suddenly changed its mind at the beginning of this year. The case was nevertheless dismissed because it could not be proven that there was coercion. There is a chance that he will still be prosecuted: an Article 12 procedure is underway.
All doors closed
How is Jeroen doing now? “To be honest, it’s getting a little better, but not good,” says his good friend Ronald Molendijk at the desk Show news. “I mean, he sits… He’s just a musician. Apart from the fact that he has to be able to make a living from it, all the doors there have been closed, so no one wants to work with him anymore.”
“That is of course annoying, apart from the fact that he is gradually okay with going out on the street again, but he has also been kicked out of the Edwin Evers band, for example. It just has a really big impact on him as a person slash musician. That’s how I see it.”
On the attack
Bram Moszkowicz thinks that Jeroen reacts very cautiously. “What Jeroen Rietbergen could do is go on the attack. If you think: I am not guilty, then you can go on the attack, saying: under oath, madam, what have I done to you and how did I do it and when did I do it?
Crime journalist Joris Peters said: “I can imagine that it could also be counterproductive for Jeroen, because he has admitted that he has had sexual contact with women. He denies having had it with Nienke. If all that comes out… And the press will be waiting again.”
Sore point
And yet Bram would go for that. “Yes, I know. You have to go through a painful point. If Jeroen Rietbergen did not do what he is accused of, then I would go on the attack. Then he may have very unpleasant publicity for one day, but now you have had unpleasant publicity for a year and a half or two years.”
Ronald: “What I found very difficult is that Sébas Diekstra (Jeroen’s victim’s lawyer, ed.), especially Sébas Diekstra, constantly uses ‘victims’ and ‘perpetrators’ in the press.”
Guilty or not
That is very irritating, says Ronald. “I never finished school, but I contacted a criminal justice professor and said: is that correct? I find it quite difficult to accept myself, without wanting to do someone a disservice who feels like a victim. Whether in this case it is lady Nienke.”
He hastens to add: “Or someone else in another business, because otherwise I’ll get death threats and a lot of shit again.”
He concludes: “I find it difficult, because ultimately the judge has to say: you are guilty or not guilty.”