Dutch ‘kidnapper’ remanded in custody

26 May 2004

AMSTERDAM — The Dutchman accused of kidnapping a schoolgirl in the Netherlands earlier this week was remanded in custody by a German court on Wednesday. He will remain in detention until his trial.

The man freed the girl and surrendered to police in Germany on Tuesday morning and the court has to decide whether he should be tried in the Netherlands or in Germany.

The 37-year-old man faces charges arising from Wei Wei’s abduction in the eastern Dutch town of Rekken at about 2.30pm on Sunday. The 13-year-old girl was forced at knifepoint into a man’s car and driven into Germany.

The car was later spotted near the German town of Greven and after the culprit sped off, he was eventually surrounded by police vehicles in Munster. After several hours of negotiations the suspect surrendered in the early hours of Tuesday.

The case has caused outrage in the Netherlands as the suspect was previously convicted for a sexual offence and allegedly abducted Wei Wei while on temporary release from a secure psychiatric hospital where he was serving his sentence.

And shortly after Wei Wei was abducted on Sunday, it was alleged her kidnapper had tried to snatch a young girl 90 minutes earlier in the western German border town of Ahaus.

Munster, where the man surrendered, is situated just 10km away from Rekken, near the Dutch city Enschede.

Dutch MPs have since called for people incarcerated under TBS psychiatric hospitalisation orders to be denied temporary release.

Meanwhile, Wei Wei spoke to police on Wednesday about her 40-hour ordeal when she was abducted and sexually assaulted. She was reunited with her family on Tuesday.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news