Supreme Court orders retrial for innocent man wrongly convicted of stalking
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled on Tuesday that the criminal case against a man convicted of stalking must be retried. The alleged victim, a woman, is now being prosecuted. She admitted that several reports and complaints she made against the man were false.
In 2021, Sanne S., a 33-year-old woman, reported being stalked to the TV program “Zeeman Confronteert: Stalkers,” a show dedicated to investigating such incidents. She recounted how a patient named Berry, whom she met in 2017 during her internship at a psychiatric facility, became obsessed with her.
The man was convicted in March 2019 to one year in prison, three months of which were suspended, for stalking, threatening, and insulting the woman. The court had found it proven that he had sent the woman a large number of text and Facebook messages. He received a restraining order, was prohibited from visiting certain locations, and was ordered to pay her compensation.
The producers of the TV program began investigating the case but found no evidence supporting the stalking allegations. It soon became clear that Sanne S. had orchestrated everything. The TV program team discovered she used spoofing, a technique that enables someone to simulate phone calls or messages from another person’s device using his own.
The police launched an investigation following the discovery made in the TV program. The investigation revealed that the messages, stalking, and threats originated from her. The woman later confessed.
The man has since been released. He has consistently denied the stalking allegations.
Further examination of the case file against the convicted man led to the prosecution of the woman. The convicted man used these investigative findings in his application for a retrial to the Supreme Court. The Advocate General at the Supreme Court recommended in October to grant this request, and the court followed this advice.
The case will now be re-examined by the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeals.
