Court acquits singer Marco Borsato of child sex abuse with 15-year-old girl

The court in Utrecht acquitted Marco Borsato of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, the daughter of the woman who chaired his fan club. According to the court, the evidence did not convincingly prove that Borsato sexually assaulted the child. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had recommended five months in prison against the former singer. Borsato denied the allegations.

According to the OM, Borsato repeatedly sexually assaulted the child in his home, her home, and in the dressing rooms of the Voice of Holland between September 2014 and January 2015. He touched the child’s thighs, breasts, and vagina, both over and under her clothes, the prosecutor said in court.

Borsato denied the allegations against him, saying that he treated the girl like his own child and that she saw him as a father figure. “She often came to sit on my lap. That attitude never changed, not even in her teenage years,” he said in court, calling the girl “enthusiastic, but very impressionable.” He described himself as a “warm-blooded, cuddly person” who liked to snuggle, as is customary in Italian families,” and said that the victim would have corrected him if his cuddling crossed a line.

The prosecutor argued that the fact that the child saw him as a father figure put Borsato in a position of power over her, and he abused that position. “He touched her in intimate areas where he should never have,” the prosecutor said, adding that it is never the child’s responsibility to draw sexual boundaries. “Sexual abuse is never the fault of a child, never,” he said.

But according to the court, there was not enough evidence to prove these facts. “In this case, the court finds that much was discussed about the preparation of the report [filed with authorities], and the possible influence of others on the content of the complainant's statement. The court cannot determine precisely how this occurred,” the district court judges ruled.

The court also raised concerns that the allegations made by the girl about Borsato were “not always specific.” The judges wrote, “In this complaint, it is unclear when several acts the complainant describes occurred. This is crucial because the complaint concerns contact with the suspect until shortly before July 4, 2019, and the accusation pertains only to the period before the complainant was 16 (i.e., before January 15, 2015).”

Her claims about physical contact under her clothing did not indicate a clear moment when this supposedly happened, the court continued. “Furthermore, the complainant states that she was 17 when she allegedly had to touch the suspect's genitals. This falls outside the period covered by the accusation.”

The court did not want to cast doubt on her story, but said the missing details meant prosecutors did not meet the standards necessary for a guilty verdict on the charges filed.

The judges also said the witnesses who testified did not provide any information to corroborate the accusations, and prosecutors misstepped by taking some of the witnesses' remarks out of context by presenting them as factual observations instead of hearsay.

The victim, now a 26-year-old woman, submitted a victim statement, which her lawyer, Peter Plasman, read in court. She said that she didn’t want compensation or punishment, but only wanted Borsato to acknowledge what he did to her. “You caused me a great deal of pain. It may not have been your intention, and perhaps at the time you didn’t fully understand your actions, but you could have recognized it.”