Supreme Court upholds Utrecht serial rapist's 16 years sentence

The Supreme Court upheld a 16 years prison sentence against Utrecht serial rapist Gerard T. This is the third ruling and final ruling in this case. There is sufficient evidence to convict the 55-year-old man for violently raping four young women in Utrecht, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, NU.nl reports.

T. was first sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2016, and then again on appeal in February last year. In cassation T. complained about, among other things, the lack of evidence that he was involved in a rape in 2001. Evidence on this rape include DNA traces found on the victim's dress, and the similarity between this rape and other cases T. was also involved in. The court previously ruled this evidence sufficient for a conviction, and the Supreme Court agreed.

Gerard T. was convicted of raping four young women, including a 16-year-old girl, in the Utrecht region over a period of several years starting in 1995. He was also suspected of 18 other cases of rape and sexual assault, but there was not enough evidence to convict him for these. The court that first tried this case 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. The sentences in all three rulings are equal to what the Public Prosecutor demanded.

T. was only arrested in 2014 after DNA traces found on his victims matched with a DNA sample he gave after being convicted of bicycle theft.