Belgian gets sentence cut in animal sex case

24 May 2006

AMSTERDAM — An appeals court in Arnhem in the Netherlands imposed sentences of seven years on the two main defendants in the Kraggenburger rape and animal porn case.

Belgian P.M. and E van C., a resident of the Dutch town of Almere, were jailed for 14 and 10 years by the trial court in Lelystad for kidnapping three African refugees in Brussels.

The women were subjected to rape and sexual assault in a shed in the Dutch town of Kraggenburg in April 2004. The women were beaten and forced to have sex with Rottweiler dogs for the purposes of a pornographic video.

It was also alleged the gang were planning to make a ‘snuff movie’, in which a victim was to be killed during sexual activities. The women managed to escape and raise the alarm.

The appeals court reduced their sentences to seven years, but ordered that P.M., 38, also undergo compulsory TBS psychiatric treatment in a secure hospital on completion of his jail sentence. A TBS sentence can effectively mean a life sentence in the Netherlands.

The Pieter Baan assessment centre had advised against TBS on the basis that P.M. did not appear to be suffering from a psychiatric condition. The judges relied on old Belgian reports to rule otherwise.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) had sought a new sentence of eight years and TBS for P.M. and 12 years for the 48-year-old man from Almere.

M.M., the 32-year-old brother of P.M., received a five year term to replace the 10 years imposed by the trial court last year.

The Belgian brothers’ girlfriends, L.F., 26, and R.B., 45, had their original five-year terms cut to three years. The appeals court ruled all three were under great mental pressure from P.M. to take part in the crimes.

G. de V., the 45-year-old girlfriend of E van E., was again acquitted of involvement.

Subject: Belgian + Dutch news