Utrecht serial rapist set for first court date

The first public hearing of the notorious Utrecht serial rapist, takes place on Monday. The suspect, 51 year old Gerard T from Nieuwegein, was arrested in July after a DNA match. T. will appear in court on Monday. The rapist struck for the first time on September 5th, 1995, on Bisschopsweg in De Bilt. In the following months, in a limited area in and around Utrecht, four rapes and six attempted rapes followed, establishing the man as a serial rapist. The perpetrator always proceeded in the same way. He rode a mountain bike, approached his victims from behind, threatened them with a knife and forced them to a location where he would rape them. He probably chose the location beforehand. The police launched a manhunt, using every tool available. From surveillance cameras and observations to the deployment of bait agents. Though the police came close to capturing the perpetrator at times, they had no success. After February 1996, all went quiet. A comparative DNA investigation of nearly 300 men did not deliver any suspects. Thousands of tips were investigated and many sex offenders were held against the light. In the spring of 2001 the police announced that they are stopping the investigation. A few months later, on October 24th, a 16 year old girl was found tied to a tree on Kees Boekelaan in Bilthoven. She was raped by a man who was riding a scooter. Two months earlier a woman on a bike was run over by presumably the same man. The Utrecht serial rapist was back. The police renewed their investigation, but found no results. The breakthrough only came in 2014. The police matched the DNA found in three rape cases, including the Bilthoven case from 2001, with the DNA of a man who had to give genetic material in connection with a conviction of bicycle theft. Gerard T was arrested. Thus far T. has refused to make a statement.