Prosecutors: Send teacher suspected of sex crimes with 70 kids to prison for 8 years

A primary school teacher accused of committing sex crimes involving dozens of children should be convicted and sent to prison for a period of eight years, with an additional term of mandatory psychiatric treatment in an institution, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said during arguments in the District Court of Den Bosch on Wednesday. The 45-year-old suspect, Bas G., is suspected of victimizing minors ranging in age, including young teenagers, and much younger children. He is said to have made pornographic images of at least 70 minors, the Public Prosecution Service said.

G. was a teacher at a school in Vlijmen for more than 20 years. He was arrested in August 2022 and has been in custody ever since. Police first started investigating him a few months earlier after the owner of a nudist campsite in Elsendorp pressed charges against G. He was accused of approaching an underage girl there, and masturbating in front of her.

An examination of G.'s telephone, computer, and other devices yielded a large amount of incriminating material, the Court heard. The teacher turned out to have an extensive and meticulously maintained archive of images featuring children. He had allegedly had contact with many of them via the Snapchat messaging service, and used the contact to incite them to perform sexual acts. He secretly recorded images of these acts, and kept them.

The OM claimed the suspect had made 439 contacts with children on Snapchat, where he posed under the pseudonym, "Jeroentje." Large amounts of child pornography were found on the suspect's computer, the OM said. This concerns approximately 5,000 images, of which most were downloaded from the Internet.

However, some of the archive also appeared to be self-made, including incriminating material consisting of photos which depicted children from his school. The OM said the man secretly took photos of two girls near an outdoor water toy set up in the schoolyard, and also of a boy who was changing clothes.

In one case there was repeated physical contact. The prosecutor claimed G. regularly met in a forest with a girl who was in a vulnerable state. G. is accused of having sex with the 12-year-old during these meetings, and shooting videos of the encounter. Committing sexual penetration of a child older than 12, but younger than 16, is punishable by up to eight years in prison, and a fine of up to 90,000 euros, under Dutch criminal law.

"Teachers are role models for children. People who are admired, who are trusted, who are considered sweet, nice or funny. This suspect in particular should have realized the seriousness of his actions and should have known how vulnerable they are," said the public prosecutor in the Den Bosch courtroom. "He has used, or rather abused, his profession to commit criminal offenses."

The OM also demanded that G. be banned from working professionally as a teacher once released from custody.