A resident of the shelter for homeless aliens on Osloweg in Groningen has been detained since Monday evening on suspicion of a serious sexual offense. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) confirms this. Today the court decided that the man will be detained for at least fourteen days. The man is on disability, which means that he is only allowed to have contact with his lawyer.
It would be an ex-child soldier from Sierra Leone. On Monday evening he is said to have held a 20-year-old housing counselor from Inlia in his room. There she would have been abused. There would have been a second man in the room who would have left the shelter of Inlia on Osloweg after fifteen minutes, after which the police were called.
Door forced with a battering ram
The door of the room was locked and could not be opened. In the end, they managed to force the door with a battering ram and the Inlia employee could be freed.
The OM says that the second man who would have been present in the room is wanted as a witness. John van Tilburg, director of the church shelter organization Inlia, confirms that there was a hostage situation in the shelter on Osloweg on Monday. He makes no further substantive statements about the incident.
Two supervisors in the evening and at night and no security
Van Tilborg confirms that there are two supervisors per 150 residents in the shelter in the evenings and at night. The victim has been working at Inlia for three years now, says Van Tilborg. He further confirms that there is no security at the complex. “If there are incidents, we deal with them ourselves. If necessary, we will call the police. Last year we arranged 200,000 overnight stays in 64 places in the country, without major incidents.”
Inlia is a network organization of and for religious communities that help asylum seekers and refugees in need. 150 homeless foreigners of all kinds are staying on Osloweg: asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies, but also refugees waiting for a document.
The OM says that the second man who would have been present in the room is wanted as a witness.