The Council of State today decided in a final ruling that a 53-year-old driving school owner from Assen, who is suspected of sexual offenses, is not entitled to a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG).
Without a Certificate of Good Conduct, a declaration of good conduct, the man is no longer allowed to run a driving school or give driving lessons. Legal Protection Minister Franc Weerwind refused to issue a new Certificate of Good Conduct to the driving school owner in 2021. Reason: the man is involved in a sex case in which he is suspected of sexually abusing his stepdaughter.
However, the Northern Netherlands court previously reprimanded the minister because he allegedly had a shaky story about the withdrawal of the VOG. The Groningen administrative court found the withdrawal of the VOG too rash. After all, the man was only a suspect at the time and had not yet been convicted. In addition, the criminal judge had suspended his pre-trial detention for two months.
Yet the minister felt it was in the interest of “protecting society” to make it impossible for him to work as a driving school teacher. For this reason, in 2002 the minister asked the Council of State to provide an emergency measure to prevent him from having to grant the man a Certificate of Good Conduct after the Groningen ruling. The highest administrative court suspended the court ruling. The Council of State then took another two years to reach a final ruling.
In it, the administrative court states that Minister Weerwind did indeed have a convincing story to refuse the Assen resident a Certificate of Good Conduct. The Council states in the ruling that there is “a serious suspicion of sexual penetration of the body of a person under the age of 16 and indecent exposure with abuse of authority.” According to the Council, the Groningen administrative court wrongly attached too much importance to suspension of the man’s pre-trial detention by the criminal court.
The man had already been in pre-trial detention for two months and the Public Prosecution Service was going to summon him. The Council of State believes that the minister was right to worry that the man would relapse into his old pattern of abuse and was a risk to society, especially in his position as a driving instructor. The Council of State believes that the financial interest of the Assen resident in being able to continue running his driving school and receiving income from it is much less important.