On Thursday, February 15, 2024, a man from Julianadorp broke into the home of a woman from Schagen and stated that he was going to rape her. The victim managed to escape. On February 27, a suspect was arrested. Subsequently, through phone data, a second suspect came into focus: the neighbor of the victim. He had posed as the victim in a chat conversation with the man from Julianadorp on a sex website. He was arrested on March 8 after intensive investigation.
The two men, a 46-year-old man from Julianadorp and a 58-year-old man from Schagen, had to answer in court in Alkmaar on Tuesday, February 4. The prosecutor demanded against the man from Schagen, who according to the Public Prosecution Service was guilty of inciting an attempted rape and impersonating the victim and three other women on sex websites, a 4-year prison sentence, of which one year is conditional, with a probation period of 5 years plus that he must comply with a reporting obligation to probation services, must undergo treatment, a restraining order with the victims, and a location ban.
Against the 46-year-old man, who is suspected of attempted rape or assault and unlawful deprivation of liberty, the prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of 191 days of which 180 days is conditional (which means he does not have to return to prison because he has already spent this time in pre-trial detention) and an unconditional community service of 150 hours. The prosecutor also requests a contact and location ban to be imposed.
Both men must, according to the Public Prosecution Service, pay compensation to the victims.
What Happened That Day
It is Thursday morning, February 15, 2024, around 09:00 when there is a somewhat forceful knock at a house in Schagen. The woman of the house opens the door when a man violently breaks in and states that he is coming to rape her. The woman fiercely resists the man, and a struggle ensues, during which the man also hits the woman against her head and allegedly holds his hand on her throat. At some point, when he realizes that the woman is resisting very fiercely and something seems off, the intruder lets go. The victim runs out of the house in her socks and the man walks away. After the deployment of investigative communication, the man is recognized and arrested on February 27. He claims to have chatted with the woman on a sex website the day before the attempted rape. In the chat, fantasies were shared, and the woman (in reality, the neighbor) provided her name, address, and photo and said that he should come by the next day, that she was excited by the idea of being raped, that it could be brutal and hard.
The 46-year-old man admits that he attempted to rape the victim and used violence, and that he prevented her from leaving her home, but he thought he was doing everything with the womans consent. It was all due to the neighbor who impersonated her, which makes it, according to the man who knocked, not his fault. The Public Prosecution Service sees it differently. An important question is whether the 46-year-old man did enough research to determine whether the woman really wanted this. He states that on February 14 he went to her house to check if the woman really meant it: she had to turn the lights on and off, open and close the blinds, stand in front of the window, and provide the license plate of the car in front of the door. She only fulfilled the last request; the others she supposedly could not do because she had no time. The license plate matched, and therefore the man was convinced that she lived there and that he was talking to her, while in reality, the neighbor was behind the account and answering the questions.
Not Just Assuming Consent
According to the prosecutor, he verified the address but did not investigate what the womans will was. He should not have just assumed that what he was doing was with the womans consent, and he should have ensured this beforehand and during the attempted rape.
The suspect had experience in the world of BDSM. In which it revolves around role-playing, of a dominant person (dom) and a sub. It is also important that there is already a trust bond. Within the BDSM world, strict rules apply, such as that nothing may happen against the will of the sub and that this can be indicated in code words. The suspect admits that he did not do this, even though he previously used code words, and that he also did not check whether the woman who opened the door was really the one he had chatted with. The prosecutor is of the opinion that he thereby accepted a considerable risk that the victim did not want it. He too easily assumed her consent, while it is a very serious sexual offense. The suspect later stated that he also thinks this himself. The prosecutor explained during the trial that normally, in cases like this where there is a violent attempted rape, the Public Prosecution Service demands a substantial unconditional prison sentence. Looking at this case and the suspects role, the Public Prosecution Service believes that he does not need to return to prison but that he still must perform community service because he did not sufficiently investigate the victims will, causing her to be the victim of a serious violent incident. She experienced very frightening moments in her own home. She was overwhelmed, beaten, restrained, and had nowhere to go. Eventually, she was able to escape the house after about 10 minutes, but it was very close that he actually raped her. The prosecutor takes into account that the man has been open, feels guilty, and wanted to apologize. He has lost his home, wife, and job and has been negatively portrayed in the media. Besides that he must perform a community service of 150 hours, the prosecutor finds a conditional prison sentence also appropriate. Additionally, he must pay compensation, according to the Public Prosecution Service. For people who go to such sites, it is important to be careful and they should not just assume the authenticity of such agreements.
Neighbor the Evil Genius
For the neighbor, who the Public Prosecution Service sees as the evil genius in this story, the prosecutor demands a higher sentence and according to the Public Prosecution Service, he must pay the largest part of the compensation. The man does not seem to realize what he has caused after the attempted rape: he continued to chat under the name of the neighbor with the other suspect, even when it was clear that the 46-year-old man was serious. The man did not intervene. On the contrary, due to his actions, another man had previously been at the victims door. He noticed that the woman knew nothing and left.
The 46-year-old man is, in the opinion of the Public Prosecution Service, criminally responsible; he was not a mere tool of the man from Schagen. He should have done better research. Therefore, the Public Prosecution Service requests acquittal for causing to commit for the 58-year-old man. He should, in the opinion of the Public Prosecution Service, be found guilty of inciting an attempted rape and of using the womans personal data, which is punishable. He not only used the identity of the victim but also posed as three other women on sex websites, whom he knew well. He shared their information, such as names and photos, with dozens of men. He also tells, for example, which pub one of them goes to. Another person receives several strange phone calls, and he chats in the name of one victim come and rape. The man posed as the victims for months. It seems that he has fled into a digital fantasy world in search of excitement. Given the seriousness of the facts, the prosecutor finds a multi-year prison sentence appropriate for this man.