Utrecht serial rapist sentenced to 16 years on appeal

A court of appeals sentenced Utrecht serial rapist Gerard T. to 16 years in prison on Wednesday, thereby upholding his previous sentence. T. was found guilty of raping four women. He was also suspected of 18 other rape cases over several years starting in 1995, but there was not enough evidence to prosecute him for these, NU.nl reports.

When T. was first convicted in February last year the court gave him 16 years in prison. The court was shocked by the brutality of the rapes and by the fact that T. seemingly showed no regret for his actions or compassion for his victims. The court also blamed him for causing great unrest in Utrecht for several years.

On Wednesday the appeals court agreed with the initial ruling. The court spoke of "very profound rapes" and "humiliation", according to the newspaper. The fact that T. remained silent throughout the process played a part in the court's ruling. The court also saw no mitigating factors and therefore upheld the first sentence of 16 years in prison, which is equal to what the Public Prosecutor demanded. 

A few moths after T.'s conviction in February last year, his lawyer wanted the case returned to court because he believed his client did not get a fair trial. This request was rejected. T. filed an appeal against his sentence. 

For years Utrecht lived in fear of the serial rapist, who started raping women in 1995. The 53-year-old T. was finally arrested in 2014, after a DNA sample he gave for bicycle theft matched traces found in four victims.