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Tuesday, 14 April 2015 - 11:59
Utrecht serial rapist claims entrapment in court
In 2013 the Utrecht police deliberately placed a "bait bicycle" in Nieuwegein to provoke the suspected serial rapist to steal it. This was done to obtain a DNA sample from the suspect.
This is according to Martin Krikke, the lawyer of Gerard T. (52), who is suspected of raping 6 women and assaulting 14 women in 1995, 1996 and 2001. Krikke made this statement during the pro forma session of this case in the Utrecht court on Monday afternoon, Volkskrant reports.
T. had to give a DNA sample after being convicted for stealing the bicycle. In July last year the police found that his DNA matches traces found in three rape cases. T. will now be prosecuted for 4 cases of rape. The prosecutor failed to find sufficient evidence against him in the other cases.
On Monday the prosecutor called the DNA match in July a "complete surprise". "At last there was a suspect in view in the longest running police investigation in the Utrecht region." But according to Krikke, the police already viewed T. as a suspect in both 1995 and 2002. He was interrogated several times. When he refused to give a DNA sample, the police deliberately trapped him by putting a bait bicycle close to his home, the lawyer told the court.
According to the prosecutor, T. was one of 3 thousand men who came into the picture during the course of the investigation, but definitely not considered a suspect. And the bait bicycle was placed in Nieuwegein because the neighborhood was struggling with a lot bike related crimes. The court also did not seem to buy into the lawyer's theory, according to the Volkskrant.