Schagen babysitter sexually abused at least one child; Collected child porn for years

A 24-year-old babysitter from Schagen accused of child sex abuse collected child pornography for years, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said at the first pre-trial hearing on Monday. The authorities found thousands of child pornographic images on his data carriers, stored between November 2015 and May 2023, including footage of the abuse of at least one child who was in his care, the OM said, NOS reports.

The Schagen man worked as a babysitter for at least 11 families nationwide. He offered his services via Martkplaats from 2019 and charged significantly lower rates than others. In his Marktplaats ad, the man wore a police uniform. According to the police, he wore the uniform once during training to become an enforcer and was never employed by the police.

So far, investigators have viewed 60 percent of the pornographic images on the man’s data carriers, like hard drives, phones, and USB sticks. The police have identified at least one victim for whom the man had been a babysitter. The child’s mother has filed charges against the man.

The police have not yet determined whether the man also abused other children in his care. According to the OM, no new families have come forward, but it can’t be ruled out yet. The police are still working on identifying several children in child pornographic images on the man’s phone. They’re also still determining whether the man made those images himself.

According to the OM, the current estimate is that there are over 21,000 photos and over 3,000 videos of child pornography on the man’s devices. The police also found animal pornography.

The suspect’s lawyer, Carlo Crince le Roy, said at the hearing that his client is wrongly portrayed as a large-scale child abuser. According to him, the authorities are marking innocent images as child pornography. He specifically mentioned a photo of a hand rubbing a diaper.

A second suspect is also in custody in this investigation. The 38-year-old man from Alkmaar allegedly received images of child sex abuse from the babysitter. The OM considers it “very possible” that the Schagen man also shared child pornography with other people.

The Schagen man will be admitted to the Pieter Baan Center at the end of October for a psychological and psychiatric assessment. The next hearing is scheduled for November 6.