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Friday, 9 September 2016 - 14:30
Den Bosch man arrested in 1997 rape of disabled woman
A 45-year-old man from Den Bosch was arrested on Monday on suspicion of raping a disabled woman in 1997. His arrest was based on a DNA match, Omroep Brabant reports.
The man had to give a DNA sample in 2014 after being convicted for an unrelated crime. His DNA sample was then compared with trace evidence on the DNA database and in June 2014 there was a hit - the man's DNA matched trace evidence found after a disabled woman was raped in 1997.
Why exactly it took the authorities more than two years to arrest the suspect after this DNA match, is unclear. A judiciary spokesperson said to Omroep Brabant: "After his arrest in 2014 there was a match with the sexual offense in 1997. That should have led to his arrest, but that didn't happen. How that happened is being investigated."
The spokesperson believes the error happened in the lines of communication. "In fact it went wrong with the information processing. It went wrong somewhere between the DNA match at the Netherlands Forensic Institute and sending it to the judiciary. With the DNA itself, nothing was wrong."