Asylum seekers headed to court in Almere sexual assaults

Two asylum seekers will appear in the Lelystad court on February 9th on suspicion that they sexually assaulted two girls in Almere in September last year. One of the suspects was involved in two assaults, the other in one, NRC reports. The municipality of Almere confirmed that the two suspects, aged 18 and 20 years old, are residents of the asylum center in the city. As far as is known, this is the first since the inflow of asylum seekers started last summer that asylum seekers are appear in court on sex-related charges. According to the municipality, this is an isolated incident involving one assault and in general there's been a "reduction in the number of offenses" in the asylum center. But the parents of the victims told NRC that there were in fact four girls sexually assaulted in one night. Two of the girls didn't press charges. One because the police "discouraged" her from pressing charges, according to her parents. The police told her that at age 17 everything involved in pressing charges would be too "rough" on her. She eventually only made a statement. The other girl didn't press charges because her parents don't know that she was out on the streets so late.