Leeuwarden, 17 December 2025

The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal sentences two suspects, aged 38 and 65, to four years in prison for repeatedly abusing residents of the care farm they owned over a long period. 

Care Farm

The suspects were both managers and caregivers at a care farm for people with intellectual disabilities combined with behavioral problems, psychiatric issues, and physical limitations. Over several years, they abused and humiliated multiple residents and tolerated or even encouraged colleagues to do the same. 

Legal Assessment

The courts primary task is to legally assess the actions of the suspects. 
Besides determining whether all alleged acts can be proven, the court must decide if there was joint perpetration: can these two suspects also be held responsible for acts they did not personally commit? Furthermore, the court must establish whether the alleged acts were all premeditated. 
An important question was also whether all acts can legally be considered abuse. 

Abuse?

Abuse primarily occurs if the acts caused pain or injury. Since the residents were often unable to express themselves, they could not report this during the investigation. Whether pain or injury occurred is therefore not easy to determine for all acts.

Furthermore, abuse can also occur if an act caused a more or less intense unpleasant sensation in or on the body of another. Simply put, abuse can also be considered if an act caused at least an uncomfortable, unpleasant or annoying feeling. The act must always have a physical element. In most cases, the court was able to establish this.

Courts Judgment

Unlike the district court, the court ruled that not all acts can be proven. Some acts cannot be classified as abuse under the legal definition. Furthermore, for a limited number of abuses, it was established that they were premeditated. 
The court also concluded that it cannot be established that any of the residents suffered serious physical injury from the abuses. 

For the majority of the acts, the court ruled that they should be considered abuse. The suspects are responsible for all these abuses, even if they did not commit them personally. They were the ones who created the company culture of punishment and humiliation and taught it to other employees. 

Sentences

The court sentenced the suspects to four years imprisonment for repeatedly abusing residents of the care farm over a long period.
The court considers that only a long unconditional prison sentence is appropriate for the proven abuses. Severely disabled and vulnerable residents were systematically humiliated and abused for years. The victims were completely dependent on care and could not defend themselves against the abuses. These abuses took place systematically and repeatedly. The fact that the abuses occurred in a professional setting makes it even more serious. 
The court has somewhat taken into account the ongoing publicity surrounding this case.  The personal data of suspects were publicly shared and some took justice into their own hands.

In addition to imprisonment, the suspects were also given professional bans and must pay compensation to some of the residents. 

Judgments

    ECLI:NL:GHARL:2025:8129ECLI:NL:GHARL:2025:8130