A 35-year-old man from Assen was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Friday for, among other things, deprivation of liberty and attempted extortion. His victim was held in a house on Groningerstraat in Assen in June 2020 and beaten with a hammer.
The injured man was able to flee from the house and raised the alarm in the street. Local residents called the police. The victim had an extremely swollen head and was covered in blood. He ran down the street screaming. He showed the officers the house where everything had happened.
Stained with blood
The living area was smeared with blood. The 35-year-old from Assen was previously tried together with a 39-year-old fellow local. He was given a suspended prison sentence of four months for the attempted extortion alone. The judge found insufficient evidence that the man was present when the victim was held in the home.
Hit with a hammer
He went to his own home for a while to get a charger. A 32-year-old man from Assen did not appear at the hearing at the time. He was acquitted of everything. The hostage taking and assault happened in the home of a 46-year-old man. He was the one who hit the victim with the hammer.
International human trafficking case
On November 15, this man was sentenced to eight years in prison and TBS with compulsory treatment for sexual exploitation of women and, among other things, this assault and hostage-taking. His sentence will be announced on December 15. The 35-year-old from Assen will have to stand trial again later, for an international human trafficking case.
That investigation has not yet been completed. This case concerns the recruitment and sexual exploitation of Thai women. The case came to light in 2021 after an inspection in a massage parlor in Assen. It is not yet known when the substance of the case will be heard.