A 17-year-old girl was assaulted on a forest path in Drunen last year. While she was walking her dog, an older man came up to her and grabbed her and kissed her three times, almost on her mouth. He also grabbed her breasts. This older man, AB from Drunen (75), stood before the court in Den Bosch on Thursday and heard a prison sentence of four months. Plus another two conditional sentences if he commits another crime within two years.
And that punishment was not only demanded for the assault on a young girl in May 2022. Because there is also a report from a 55-year-old woman of an assault in September in a park in Drunen.
It is striking that the assault is very similar to that of the young girl. Every time a man approaches the women in a very amicable manner. They are grabbed, cuddled and kissed. Both women were also grabbed by the breasts at the end.
Looked like granddaughter
AB admitted in court that he hugged the young girl and kissed her once, but no more than that. He shouldn’t have done that, he said, but she looked so much like his granddaughter that he got too excited, he said. He did not notice that the girl froze and remained friendly so as not to let the situation get out of hand. He did not assault the 55-year-old woman, he said firmly.
B. celebrated his 75th birthday this Thursday in the court in Den Bosch. Throughout the hearing he rejected accusations that he was a ‘dirty old man’. “A man that women are afraid of and that parents warn their daughters about,” the prosecutor described.
Don’t go outside anymore
The 75-year-old Serbian, who has lived in the Netherlands since 1999, no longer wants to go out alone since the reports and the 20 days he was in jail. He is ashamed, he said, and he swore several times in court that he will not make the same mistake again.
Because he should not have hugged the girl like that, but he had not touched her. And he had never seen the 55-year-old woman, let alone kissed or touched her. His lawyer thinks that all kinds of stories may have arisen about him after the first report. And that may be why B. was ‘mistakenly’ recognized by the 55-year-old woman as the perpetrator a few weeks after the assault.
The public prosecutor thought differently. The way in which the assaults in Drunen took place in 2022 are too similar and always involving the same older man. The officer thought it was absolutely unacceptable that he had assaulted an underage girl. And on top of that, while he was allowed to await his trial at home with all kinds of conditions in hand, he assaulted a woman a few months later.
Previous declarations
In addition, B. appears a little too often in judicial files. A report has already been filed against him three times and the police also suspect that he assaulted another woman, but so far there has never been a conviction.
This behavior must stop, the public prosecutor said. Four months in prison and another two suspended seemed an appropriate punishment to make it clear to the man that he must suppress his sense of lust and treat women with respect. He also demanded that the contact ban with the young girl be maintained, because she really does not want to meet B. again.
The court will rule in this case on November 30.