“Prolonged and frequent sexual abuse, mistreatment, humiliation: it is heartbreaking to imagine the hell the children in this family have lived through. Always the fear that father would enter your room again. A mother who was domineering and directed the father. And to the outside world, the appearance of a happy family was maintained.” These words were spoken by the public prosecutor this morning in the Arnhem court. She demanded 16 years imprisonment for the father (61). The mother (59) faced a demand of 10 years. She also asked the court to impose a contact ban.
The abuse took place from the birth of the eldest daughter in 1996 until she left the house. That means 21 years for the eldest daughter. The other three were also mistreated and abused as long as they lived at home. The public prosecutor: “It never stopped. These four girls are marked for life.”
The daughters’ statements are consistent and reliable. There is also supporting evidence from witness statements by people who know the family and observed that things seemed wrong in the household. Experts noted that some of the daughters’ later statements might have been influenced. The Public Prosecution Service therefore does not use some parts of those statements, but this does not affect the proven charges: for the father, extensive sexual abuse including rape of all four daughters. The mother is also considered by the Public Prosecution Service to have committed sexual abuse of the eldest daughter, either by doing it herself or by watching and encouraging the father. Both parents are accused of mistreatment.
The children were severely beaten with hands or whatever object was nearby, such as a piece of wood, a bible, or a hairbrush. They were also locked in the basement, put under a cold shower, placed outside with a chair, and frightened. Most mistreatment was carried out by the father, on orders from or encouraged by the mother. The mother wrote in a notebook: “I have always been the mastermind in the family and directed him (father).” The four sons in the family also testified about the mistreatment. According to them, they did not notice the sexual abuse.
The suspects strongly denied at trial that they committed any crime. They maintain that the sexual abuse never happened. They downplayed the mistreatment. This is especially painful for the victims. One of the daughters expressed this poignantly in her right to speak: “Every day that you continue to remain silent and deny, you contribute to my pain, prolong the injustice, and the pattern becomes visible again that you run away from your responsibilities.”
The daughters also expressed in their speech the loss of a parent, someone who stands unconditionally beside them. The Public Prosecution Service weighs as an aggravating factor that both parents committed criminal offenses. A child can then not escape such a situation. The suspects have seriously violated the physical and psychological integrity of their daughters. They disregarded the consequences, the fact that their daughters did not have an undisturbed physical, mental, and sexual development. From the moment they were born until they left home, they were systematically abused and mistreated. For the eldest, that is 21 years. “All in all, I conclude that only a long, unconditional prison sentence is appropriate and necessary for these two suspects,” the prosecutor concluded her argument.
