Asylum center rape suspect released as WhatsApp chats suggest consensual sex

A Dutch man arrested in Germany on the suspicion that he raped an asylum seeker in the shelter that he runs, has been released. A WhatsApp chat conversation suggests that the man and woman had a consensual and "intimate love relationship", a court in Arnsberg decided, ANP reports.

The charge against the man, Paul van M., was filed by a 22-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who lived in the shelter he runs in Germany. She told the authorities that she had been raped at least four times, became pregnant and had an abortion.

Van M.'s lawyer is furious that his client is only now being released. According to him, the chat conversation was on a computer that the German judiciary seized, but was only found after he explicitly pointed it out. "That my client has been detained for more than six months is a catastrophe", the lawyer said, according to ANP.

Paul van M. recently made headlines in the Netherlands when it was revealed that he was allowed to open a foster home for children despite the fact that he was previously convicted for sex offenses. This revelation triggered an investigation into Gelderland's youth care services.