In the summer of last year, the mentally retarded John B. (57) assaulted a number of young girls in Gemert twice. The judge considered the case on Monday. “It’s a mess in my head, then I get bothered by stimuli and I can hardly suppress them,” said B.
B. had been living in a closed ward of the GGZ institution Huize Padua in Boekel for more than twenty years because of his psychological problems. But from September 2020 he was given more freedom and B. was allowed to leave the site unaccompanied.
In the summer of last year, he saw two girls at the local supermarket. “Then it became too much for me. I got a kind of short circuit and I was not able to control myself,” B. explained to the judge in Den Bosch on Monday.
“It sounds very strange, but after that I was rid of my lusts.”
He cycled after the girls and grabbed the eldest girl (12) by the breasts. He didn’t feel guilty and he wasn’t afraid of getting caught. Mostly he felt relief. “It sounds very strange, but after that I was rid of my lusts.”
During the session he clearly comes out of his words. He looks calm and shows little emotion. He cannot empathize with the victims. This is also due to his autism, which was diagnosed a year ago.
B. appears to have been convicted before. He had already received a TBS for four years. According to his lawyer Van Laake, this was already before he was admitted to a closed ward in Huize Padua.
The father of one of the girls has come to court. His two daughters (12 and 9 years old) had gone skating that afternoon and were attacked by John B. in broad daylight. It later emerged that two weeks earlier he also grabbed another 14-year-old girl by the buttocks out of the blue.
“It seems like the rights of Mr. are more important than the rights of my children.”
“You want your children to grow up safely. This has made such an impression on their lives. You have to protect them from something that cannot be done.” The father finds it incomprehensible that B. has been given all kinds of freedoms. “He shouldn’t have been allowed to roam free. It seems like Mr. rights are more important than my children’s rights.”
John B. does not deny the facts. He especially wants to be treated for his psychological problems and no more freedoms. “I know I can’t deal with that.” His lawyer agrees and explains that John B. can no longer stay in Huize Padua either. He would be threatened there because he gives the clinic a bad name.
The public prosecutor demanded a TBS treatment. “This is a man who needs to be watched all his life. He won’t make it alone.” She does not demand further punishment, because the man is currently staying ‘under a strict regime’ in the GGZ institution. “You mainly need psychological help, structure and predictability.”
The judge will rule this Friday.