Man held for armed robbery of bound sex workers near The Hague facing 7 years in prison
Dutch prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence for Zouhari H., 24, of Zoetermeer, in connection with a violent armed robbery of two sex workers in Rijswijk and a separate alleged firearm threat against one of the victims, Omroep West reports. The second incident occurred eight months later when H. visited the woman at her place of work in Amsterdam-West.
The Public Prosecution Service says the March 12, 2024, robbery took place around 2 a.m. in an apartment on the 11th floor of a building on Ocarinalaan in Rijswijk, Zuid-Holland. Two 24-year-old Romanian sex workers had arranged appointments through the dating website kinky.nl when they opened the door expecting a client. Instead, according to prosecutors, two masked men forced their way inside, armed with firearms.
The men used tape to bind the women’s hands and wrists and also taped their mouths shut. One of the assailants remained seated on a stool in front of the victims, reportedly playing with a firearm and aiming it at them. He allegedly said, "Tell me where the money is, or do you want to die?" The suspects ransacked the apartment while the women were restrained and in fear for their lives.
Prosecutors say the attackers stole 7,500 euros in cash, bank cards, and mobile phones. In addition, 30,000 euros was transferred from the bank account of one of the women to a cryptocurrency account. The victims managed to free themselves from the tape around 5 a.m. and fled onto the street. Police later entered the apartment with dogs, but the suspects had already left.
Investigators linked H. to the crime through CCTV footage and DNA evidence. Bank cards stolen in the robbery were used the same night at two locations in Zoetermeer, at Petuniatuin and Oostwaarts. Prosecutors say H. is visible in the surveillance images from those transactions. His DNA was also found on a piece of tape used to bind the victims.
Telephone mast data, according to the prosecution, also showed H.’s phone traveling that night from the area of Ocarinalaan in Rijswijk to Zoetermeer.
H. denies involvement in the robbery. In court on Monday, he said: “I have bought tape for a boy from my neighborhood. Because of my own safety I prefer not to say who.” He stated he purchased the tape several days before the robbery occurred.
Regarding the surveillance footage, he said: “I’m telling you, I was forced that night at gunpoint to withdraw money.” He claimed he was made to sit in a car by an unknown person who forced him to use ATMs at Petuniatuin and Oostwaarts.
The prosecution alleges H. played a leading role in the Rijswijk robbery, stating the victims were unable to escape and experienced extreme fear. One prosecutor said the women were “literally terrified” and that the defendant acted solely for financial gain.
In a second incident, prosecutors say H. confronted one of the same women approximately eight months later at her workplace in Amsterdam-West, where she was again doing sex work after the earlier robbery. According to the prosecution, he entered the location after another dating-site arrangement and placed a firearm against her stomach, telling her, “I will shoot you.” The woman began screaming, and H. fled the scene.
H. also denies this allegation, saying, "I'm telling you, I was never in that house, and I have never had a firearm.”
The victim’s lawyer is seeking 40,000 euros in damages on her behalf. The woman did not attend the hearing, as she is said to be traumatized. She has resumed working in prostitution but now uses a panic alarm.
