Henkjan Smits does not rule out that Marco Borsato’s accuser developed sexual feelings for Marco Borsato at the age of 15 instead of the other way around. “Maybe she had budding feelings.”
Opinions are strongly divided. There is a camp that speaks out strongly against Marco Borsato, including John van den Heuvel and Angela de Jong, but also a camp that distrusts his accuser A.. This includes opinion makers such as Evert Santegoeds and Victor Vlam. And then of course there are many people who have no idea.
Marco’s hands
Henkjan Smits leans towards team Marco. “I think I know Marco well enough to know what an amiable person he is and how cuddly. He was once under contract with Polydor, I was with Phonogram Records, which was affiliated with each other. No matter how grumpy he was, he always responded enthusiastically when he saw you. That’s how he is,” he says in the Weekend.
He continues: “I think he really wanted to comfort her and did so with his hands. But I don’t think he had a sexual feeling about it. What do I think about Marco surrounding himself with a lot of nudity in this family? I think he now thinks: what a jerk I was for not saying: ‘This far and no further!’”
Budding feelings
However, Marco has not crossed the line, Henkjan thinks. “I do not think that, despite everything we know now, he consciously performed sexual acts on that girl. It is clear that he went too far for that girl. But she may also have had budding sexual feelings for Marco and wrote that in her diary.”
He continues: “That has now become public and of course it is terrible for her. I am not going to say that the girl wrote nonsense, I just don’t know.”
Five months
If it were up to Henkjan, Marco wouldn’t have to go to jail. “I hope that justice will prevail. And I sincerely hope that his sentence will ultimately not be too bad. Five months are now being demanded, while his entire career has been ruined.”
He concludes: “I feel so sorry for that man, it’s terrible. Until of course it turns out that he did it consciously. Then I get sucked into it and I take everything back. By the way, I also think it’s terrible how that girl experienced it, in her opinion. So: only losers!”