Needle spiking, stabbing someone else with a hypodermic needle, is a relatively new concept in the Netherlands. It has been reported several times by visitors to clubs and festivals, but so far no evidence has been found that it actually happened. Until last week, the police judge in The Hague convicted a first suspected perpetrator: a 31-year-old man from Georgia who is said to have pricked a woman during a festival in The Hague. According to court reporter Saskia Belleman, the court clearly wants to ‘send a signal’ in the middle of the festival season. In a new episode of the podcast De Zaak Ontleed, Belleman, together with Wilson Boldewijn, discusses whether the court did well to deal with this case so quickly, and whether there was enough evidence to reach a conviction.
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