10 years demanded for kidnap, rape

1 March 2005

AMSTERDAM — The 38-year-old man who kidnapped and raped a 13-year-old Eibergen girl last year should be jailed for 10 years and re-committed to a psychiatric detention centre, the public prosecutor demanded in Zutphen Court on Tuesday.

Defendant Michel S., of Deventer, confessed to the kidnapping on Tuesday, but refused to answer court questions. “I take responsibility and accept the consequences, but do not want to co-operate further,” he said.

The suspect is also accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl in Voorschoten and the attempted kidnapping of a 16-year-old German girl.

The crimes allegedly occurred after the man failed to return to his psychiatric detention centre after being granted probationary leave in May and February 2004, news agency ANP reported.

S. made contact with the Voorschoten girl in an internet chat room while he was being detained at the Flevo Future TBS psychiatric clinic in Utrecht early last year.

He allegedly pretended to be younger than he was, while the girl pretended to be older, prompting the prosecutor to urge the public to exercise caution when using internet discussions.

S. is then alleged to have met the 14-year-old in a park during unsupervised leave from his TBS clinic, and sexually abused her on a park bench. The prosecutor dismissed the man’s claims that he thought the girl was about 20 years old.

The defendant failed to return from probationary leave that weekend, an incident that was repeated another three times. Family and friends usually brought him back to the clinic.

The last time that S. failed to return from leave was in May 2004, when he kidnapped a 13-year-old girl from the eastern Dutch town of Eibergen.

He was supposed to attend an appointment to assist him overcome alcohol problems on 11 May, but never arrived at the institute. He then kidnapped the 13-year-old girl on 23 May at knife-point from the eastern Dutch village of Rekken and drove across the border into Germany.

The prosecutor said the 40 hours that the victim was held hostage by the defendant were “saturated” with sex. S. sexually abused and raped the victim at knife point. She was raped several times. “I don’t want you to say it hurts, otherwise I will do something to you,” the culprit had told her.

S. eventually surrendered to police on 25 May in the German town of Munster, where police had cornered his vehicle. In the resulting stand-off, he had repeatedly held a knife at his victim’s throat.

The description of events by the victim and suspect were largely similar, prompting the presiding judge on Tuesday to ask the girl why she could give such an accurate description of her kidnapping.

The victim replied that she had a very good memory and had developed a certain fighting spirit in China, where she was born, that had helped her come to terms with the ordeal, RTL News reported.

But the lawyer for the girl’s family said she no longer dares go outside alone, is scared of the dark, sleeps badly and has terrible nightmares.

She had tried to get help during her ordeal by attracting the attention of others. The girl also said her rape was very painful and described it as “terribly dirty and smutty”.

The lawyer demanded symbolic compensation of EUR 100 because S. would probably not be released and thus would not have any income.

The victim’s family had previously indicated it was planning to sue the Dutch State for damages.

S. had previously been sentenced to two years jail and TBS psychiatric detention with compulsory treatment in 1995 for a crime of rape.

The prosecutor said S. was a repeat offender and accepted the conclusion of the judiciary’s observation centre Pieter Baan Centre, which said he was of diminished responsibility at the time of the offences.

The prosecutor thus demanded a 10-year jail term followed by psychiatric detention with compulsory treatment.

A sentence of TBS detention opens up the possibility of a life sentence because psychiatric experts can recommend a criminal’s continued remand every two years.

The trial is continuing.

Subject: Dutch news