Bee RTL Boulevard I saw a fragment of the funeral of Erwin Olaf, one of the Netherlands’ most famous photographers. He died last week after a lung transplant. I saw six pallbearers carrying his white coffin into the Westerkerk, two drag queens stood at the door. A biodegradable box, I heard it said, made from mushrooms. The photographer lay on a bed of moss, wearing only his wedding ring. It sounded peaceful.
But I didn’t set it up for that. I wanted to see how the Borsato issue would be handled by the RTL4 colleagues of “once the greatest singer in the Netherlands”, as they invariably continued to refer to him. The Public Prosecution Service announced on Wednesday that it would prosecute Borsato for indecently touching a 15-year-old girl. A proposed prosecution, so to speak. For me that was a new news moment in court reporting, usually a case only becomes newsworthy when there is a hearing in court. But this score came at just the right time for the show and news bulletins. Because everyone, I understood, had been waiting for two years for something to happen in the Borsato case.
There was not much to report other than the fact that a lawsuit is coming, and no date has even been set yet. Definitely a reason why One today on the other television network, the Borsato case was taken ‘broader’ and took the opportunity to talk about sexual offenses that have been neglected for a long time. The Public Prosecution Service had promised to handle the complaint against Borsato with priority due to the social unrest that had arisen. It still took the justice system more than two years before the next step could be taken: instituting prosecution. A complainant of a sexual offense said, unrecognizable in the picture, that the police told her that her report was a “shelf case”. Defense attorney Richard Korver said the wait left victims worse damaged than they already were. Vice detective Frans van Kesteren said that the uncertainty about what will happen with the report hinders the processing of the trauma.
Yet another look at what exactly the Public Prosecution Service said on December 16, 2021. The Borsato case was given priority over other moral matters. So not: we do it quickly. But: we are doing it less slowly. And social unrest is indeed mentioned as the reason, but in the same sentence it states: (…) and because it is known against whom the charges have been filed. Ah. This is not about the alleged victim. The pace is being set to shorten Borsato’s ordeal. That certainly didn’t work out.
Voice scandal
For RTL Boulevard the proposed prosecution was a reason to stir up the whole issue. The singer’s burn out at the beginning of 2021. The relationship crisis. The reconciliation with his wife, which turned out to be temporary. And just when things seemed to be going better for him: the declaration of the now 22-year-old woman in December 2021. On top of that, the Voice scandal that broke out shortly afterwards and the resulting cancellation. The Voice issue has now died out, the judiciary found insufficient evidence of transgressive behavior by the Voice coaches. Maybe former Voice coach Borsato still had a small chance of rehabilitation?
Not if you ask crime expert John van den Heuvel. He added RTL Boulevard appear as if what was about to happen was “clear and obvious.” The decision was of course up to the judge, he said, but the justice system would not simply prosecute, so the suspicion had to be serious and the evidence solid.
That sounded like one premature persecution.