Up to 80 men implicated in underage prostitution case
The man who pimped out a 16-year-old girl in Limburg, did so only because the girl wanted to, his lawyer has said. His statement comes as DNA research shows that no less than 80 men had sex with the underage girl.
“She asked my client to facilitate it (and) he refused at first, but he agreed when she kept on insisting. He then only stayed around to protect her,” attorney Arthur Vonken told Volkskrant today. The pimp, 21-year-old Armin A., has been in police custody since October 2014, after he was found hiding out in the bathroom of a hotelroom in Valkenburg, where the girl was having sex with another adult man.
The unnamed girl had then been missing for a week. Police found a large amount of used condoms in a garbage can in the room; the National Forensic Institute analyzed the contents, which so far shows that at least 80 men had had sex with the girl, 30 more than police initially thought. A.’s cellphone furthermore contained a list of customers that was linked to an online ad in which he offered the girl for sex. Police is planning to visit people on the list at their homes, to interrogate them as witnesses and suspects.
Suspects risk up to four years jail time. Volkskrant spoke to a spokesman for the Public Prosecutor’s Office who said that the visits may come as unpleasant surprises for married people, but sexual exploitation weighs heavier. Clients who at the time were not aware that they were having sex with an underage girl also face prosecution, the Prosecutor’s Office said. The pimp's lawyer meanwhile said the girl does not look "obviously adult." Vonken: "There's a lot you can do with make-up, but i would have my doubts. She does not look 30, so to say."
