OM demands eight years in prison for Marcel B. for raping two teenage girls

In court in Rotterdam on Thursday, the public prosecutor demanded eight years in prison against 53-year-old Marcel B. from Schiedam in an unsolved case in which two young girls were raped over 13 years ago and a third girl narrowly escaped. However, B. denies all allegations. The main evidence against him consists of a DNA match.

B. allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl in August 2010 in the basement of the apartment in Schiedam where she lived. He forced the victim to perform numerous sexual acts at gunpoint. On September 20 of the same year, B. allegedly struck in a cellar compartment in Vlaardingen. At that time, a 13-year-old girl was the victim. On the same afternoon, a 15-year-old girl was able to escape just in time from a basement compartment elsewhere in Vlaardingen, where B. is said to have followed her.

A cold case team revived the investigation in 2020. Thanks to a large-scale DNA investigation, B. was finally identified as a suspect. His DNA matched traces in the two rape cases. The most remarkable investigative tool was the public dissemination of a hologram created based on the description of the perpetrator. This led to hundreds of leads.

The police arrested B. on January 16, 2023. He has been in custody since then.

The public prosecution service (OM) accused B. of persistently denying the crime. "The defendant has simply gone on with his life," the prosecutor said, "while the lives of the victims have been scarred forever." The DNA evidence "cries out for an explanation", the OM believes.

"The three victims experienced incredibly frightening moments in those basement compartments," the prosecution said. The fact that these moments have left deep scars even years after the crime was made clear at the hearing by the statements of two of them.

B.'s response was: "Of course I think it's terrible what happened to the girls, but I want to emphasize that it wasn't me." Psychological tests revealed that B. is mentally retarded but has no disorders.

In addition to the sexual offenses, the OM suspects B. of laundering more than 116,000 euros, which the police found in cash in a safe in the bedroom of his apartment.

B.'s lawyer Paul Acda criticized the DNA research and believes that its results cannot serve as evidence. He thinks his client should be acquitted.