A man (32) from Groningen must be treated under duress in a TBS clinic, if it is up to the judiciary. He abused his ex-girlfriend and the next day took her son from the shelter without permission. “If the police find me, you’ve lost your child.”
The police were on high alert last October when a woman from Groningen reported that her 2-year-old child was picked up from daycare that morning by her ex-boyfriend. He said he forgot a doctor’s appointment. In her eyes it can have nothing to do with anything other than the fact that he was completely out of his mind with a knife in her bedroom earlier that night.
He jumps on the bed with her, punches her several times in the face and tries to squeeze her throat. A dark climax after it has been bumblebees for days, because the woman has put the Groningen man on the street. He refuses to accept that. Nevertheless, she manages to calm him down and offers him a place to sleep in the storage room. When her child turns out to be missing the next day, she is shocked.
‘He’s safe’
She receives numerous messages from her ex-boyfriend. “If you withdraw the report to the police, I will tell you where your child is. He’s safe.’ Detectives proceed to an emergency tap of the suspect man’s telephone and soon locate him in Zuidbroek. Near a supermarket they arrest him. He left the child with an acquaintance, where it is found a little later.
When the judge goes through the criminal file with the man on Thursday morning, the seriousness does not seem to bother him. “I consider her children as my own. I wanted to do fun things with her son, that calms me down.”
He denies having used the child as a means of pressure, so that the woman would withdraw her report. “I would have left for Belgium or Germany. I have people there too. I would never do anything to that child.” He also did not commit the abuse, he tells the judges.
Concrete chair in his cell smashed
The man has been in custody since October. When guards refuse to give him more time at the yard the day after his arrest, he pulls and kicks a chair – which is stuck in concrete – out of his decency. The damage ran into the thousands of euros. After several violent incidents, he has already been transferred to another prison several times.
According to the public prosecutor, the Groningen man has a worrying criminal record that has been getting thicker and thicker since he was thirteen. Two previous relationships have already ended in criminal cases for threats and violence. ,,And now he is going too far, while there was still 8 months in prison hanging over his head from three probation periods. Despite earlier relational violence, he shows no self-understanding. He downplays the facts.
‘Femicide not ruled out in the future’
Experts who examined him also paint a dark picture of the future. “They do not rule out femicide in the future, because the chance of new aggression in a relationship is lurking,” says the officer. ,,I accept their advice: mandatory treatment in a closed setting and under duress. Treatment from home has not proven to be enough. Mister says he wants to cooperate, but always on his terms. The chance of recurrence makes TBS with compulsory treatment necessary.
As far as she is concerned, the prison sentence is equal to the pre-trial detention, although those 8 extra months must still be served.
According to the lawyer, the ‘soup was not eaten as hot as it was served’. “We communicated in emotional moods at the end of the relationship. The police have started browsing in all those apps to still extract some form of coercion. A few months ago we were still talking about suspension of pre-trial detention. Then a TBS requirement is now disproportionate.”
The court will rule on July 13.