Man from Houten convicted for online sex crimes with underage girls

A 29-year-old man from Houten was convicted in a series of crimes involving the online sexual abuse of underage girls, including a 12-year-old victim who took her own life. The man abused the “youthful open-mindedness and curiosity” of his victims for years “in a shameless and unacceptable manner,” the court ruled.

The Central Netherlands District Court sentenced the man to six years in prison for online sexual abuse with underage girls, physical sexual abuse of an underage girl, possession of child sex abuse material, and possession of pornographic material involving animals.

The man came into the picture after the 12-year-old girl had committed suicide. Her computer tablet showed chat conversations she had with the man. The messages showed the man asking for sexually explicit material from the girl. This led to the police searching the man’s house where they found a computer and telephones with records of sexually explicit conversations between the man and several children.

Around 2,000 images of child sex abuse material and animal pornography were also found. The police were able to identify 25 of the girls in the photos; there are still 27 girls who the police have not yet identified.

The court said that the man worked in a very calculated and organized way. He asked for naked photos and videos using various names with a forceful tone. The man from Houten threatened one of the victims, saying he would send images shared earlier to her friends and family because she indicated that she did not want to send any more videos. The man also arranged to meet a victim, who was 12 years old at the time. The man performed sexual acts on her.

“The subsequent police investigation revealed that the suspect had had online contact with a large number of girls for years. The content of the messages led to the suspicion of a series of criminal offenses involving a significant number of victims,” the Public Prosecution Service said in its closing arguments last month. It noted the cases of physical abuse and online abuse, as well as “thousands” of child sex abuse images and videos, including existing material he acquired and secret recordings of young girls he groomed and victimized online.

“Sometimes he did this by seducing them with nice words, sometimes by intimidating them in an aggressive tone. Yet another time he coerced them by threatening to make previously obtained images public. He is suspected of having produced child pornography material showing a total of 49 different girls,” the prosecutor alleged.

A sentence of eight years was recommended for victimizing 60 girls in total. They were all between 10 and 14 years of age when the crimes took place between 2015 and 2023.

The man confessed to his crimes, and was diagnosed by one court expert with a personality disorder. The court said he his disorder makes him somewhat less responsible for the crimes he committed, and ordered the Houten resident to also participate in psychiatric treatment because the chance of recurrence is high. He will have to pay compensation between two and four thousand euros to each victim.

The court also took into consideration that the man was neglected as a child because of his parents’ long absence. He was also abused by his brother, and subjected to bullying.