Patrick B. (43) from Reusel still has to go to jail for abusing his two daughters. The court in Den Bosch determined this on Wednesday. At the end of 2023, B. was acquitted in court of abusing a daughter and for one-off abuse of his other daughter, he was then given three days in prison, which he had already spent in pre-trial detention.
Patrick B. was also given a community service order of 120 hours, but the court also dismissed that. B. receives a prison sentence of 24 months, of which 15 are conditional.
This puts an end for the time being to a lawsuit in which father and daughters were very diametrically opposed to each other. Father Patrick B. flatly denied that he had ever done anything wrong with his daughters. He said that his daughters were lying.
But the daughters insisted that they were both abused by their father as young teenagers. They already made an emotional argument in court. They were not so much interested in the punishment, but simply wanted their father to admit to the abuse. But Patrick B. didn’t flinch and without looking at his daughters in the courtroom, he curtly said that ‘nothing ever happened’.
Disappointment
The daughters were therefore greatly disappointed that their father was acquitted of abusing one daughter and was convicted of only one instance of fornication with the other daughter.
But the court that re-examined the case came to a different conclusion: Patrick B. fondled his daughters between 2017 and 2020, while he masturbated himself. Which is what he did when they were showering.
But it was always the daughters’ word against that of their father, because there are no further witnesses. The court had a solution for this that the court did not see: the statements of the two sisters support each other and therefore the abuse of Patrick B. has been convincingly proven. Both victims also stated that there were signs of sexual abuse by the other. The court also finds that the statements of the mother and stepfather support the daughters’ indecent accusations.
The court blames Patrick B. for doing everything he can to avoid the accusations. He dismissed his own daughters as liars and threatened suicide if they did not withdraw their statements and he also threatened to take away their belongings.
According to the court, this made the damage already inflicted even greater. Especially because B. has shown no remorse. According to the court, B. comes across ‘as a person with a limited ability to deal with situations that are problematic for him, which is reflected in a defective and somewhat childish way of acting or reacting’.
To Belgium
Patrick B. now lives with a third daughter and her boyfriend and small children in a rented house in Belgium. He started a business there in buying, renovating and reselling homes. He’s not in a relationship.
The court actually wanted to sentence B. to 12 months in prison and 12 months probation. But because his case took too long, he only has to serve 9 months in prison and is given 15 months’ probation.
If Patrick B. does not agree with the verdict, he can still go to the Supreme Court. This then checks whether the rules have been applied correctly. Discussion about the facts is virtually impossible in cassation.