Marco Borsato receives an incredible kick from Rinus Otte, CEO of the Public Prosecution Service. “He has shown very lewd behavior and that is less disqualified,” he complains.
It was an incredible relief for Marco Borsato: he got away with his questionable behavior towards an underage girl at the time. The judge acquitted him and the Public Prosecution Service decided not to appeal. But if it were up to Rinus Otte, CEO of the Public Prosecution Service, Marco would have hung up.
Not much evidence
Rinus, who is not keen on interviews, steps in The Telegraph extensively spoken. And according to the newspaper, it is ‘special’ how openly he speaks about recent controversial cases, such as the acquittal of Marco Borsato. Wasn’t the complainant let down by not appealing?
Rinus answers that question: “That case took a long time, as unfortunately many sexual offense cases do, because there is often not a lot of evidence in sexual offense cases.”
‘That happens’
There was indirect evidence, such as in this case the diary entries of the complainant, according to Rinus. “The case was with the Public Prosecution Service for a long time, perhaps too long, but in the end Borsato was summoned, with full conviction, with a good indictment. But the court nevertheless acquitted. That can and happens often.”
He continues: “It cannot be ruled out that a different combination of judges with this same file would have reached a conviction, also on appeal. In these types of cases it simply depends on the persuasiveness of the evidence and these three judges were clearly not convinced.”
Media hype
Why did the Public Prosecution Service not appeal? “The case had been going on for a long time, the media hype continued to increase, every week there was discussion about the media. At some point such a case has to stop. For that reason, I understood that the local public prosecutor’s office did not file an appeal. The court’s decision now stands and is now unchallengeable for the Public Prosecution Service.”
“But what struck me more than the question of whether the evidence was sufficiently convincing was that nowadays, including in this case, all stops are being pulled out to attack the character of the complainant. Whether she and her mother were good, and whether she had, so to speak, given rise to his behavior.”
Very lewd
The complainant was treated too harshly by the Borsato camp, Rinus believes. “The complainant and her mother were severely disqualified, while the very lewd behavior of Borsato, a middle-aged man towards a then underage girl, was much less disqualified.”
“That is very special and a bad signal to other young girls who would like to report it, but see from this case what can happen, how they themselves can be put through the wringer.”