A 22-year-old man from Lemmer has been sentenced to four years in prison for a ‘brutal and cowardly’ rape of a prostitute in Nieuw-Weerdinge. The woman was allegedly raped in the early morning of May 11 while a loaded gun was held to her head.
“A cowardly, brutal and cunning way to satisfy his sexual need,” the public prosecutor said to the suspect. He denies the threat with the weapon. He had a ‘business agreement’ with the woman in Drenthe. The agreement was made via Snapchat, the man told the judge.
He had come there with a friend. He still had a financial bone to settle with her, from a previous contact. Because of that dispute, sex did not happen at the time.
The friend waited in the car. That was heard later. He confirmed this story, but his friend had made a payment agreement with the woman, he said when he returned. There is no mention of sex.
Shortly afterwards, the woman told her story to the resident of the home where she was staying at the time. The resident called the police. The officers saw a woman who was upset and visibly in pain.
She did not want to press charges, but did hand over her phone for investigation. This brought the suspect into the picture. In the suspect’s home, the officers found two gas pistols on his bed, one of which was fully loaded.
A DNA mixture profile containing cell material from the woman and the suspect was found on the weapon. The twenty-something man continued to deny it, he said he had no idea how that got there. The public prosecutor called the suspect’s attitude during the trial ‘laconic’ and she believes that the man does not take responsibility. “A woman is a woman and should be treated with respect, even if she is a prostitute.”
She also demanded that the woman be awarded damages of more than 10,000 euros. The suspect has a criminal record and should also serve a previously imposed suspended prison sentence of a total of four weeks, the prosecutor believes.
The verdict will be announced on December 23.