John Luijten from Dongen is relieved now that two suspects have been arrested after a robbery at his home. Two men from Venlo are suspected of breaking into John’s house in early October and assaulting him. This happened after they made an appointment via the gay dating app Grindr. “There is therefore value in reporting it,” says John.
After the robbery, he told his story to Omroep Brabant. At first anonymously, but two weeks later he stepped out of anonymity. He felt strengthened by a flood of positive reactions he received after he shared the story about the robbery on Facebook.
“I got a call from the police on Saturday afternoon,” John says with relief. “One of the boys had lost a cap after the robbery. The police found a DNA match there.” The trail led to Venlo, where the police previously arrested four men between the ages of 19 and 22. The police tracked them down after several reports were received.
It’s been almost four months since the robbery. John thought he had met someone via the gay dating app Grindr. But the person John spoke to digitally had very different plans. Two men came to John’s door and he was severely beaten. He is now doing better again. “It’s actually going very well. In the beginning I suffered from insomnia, but I took medication for that,” he reflects.
John has now returned to work at the theater where he works. “I have enough distraction now. That’s why it doesn’t bother me anymore.” He is happy that he told his story: “I received a huge number of responses to that. Really not normal. I received flowers and messages from people from all over the country.”
John hopes that men who have experienced the same thing will report themselves to the police. “Report it. Because it helps.”
The day after the attack, John told his story anonymously at Omroep Brabant.