Second suspect arrested in two decade old Rotterdam gang rape

The police arrested a second suspect for gang-raping a woman in a Rotterdam park two decades ago. The 37-year-old man from Rotterdam’s Crooswijk neighborhood was arrested on Wednesday afternoon. The first suspect, a 39-year-old man from Rotterdam, was arrested on Monday.

The gang rape happened on 12 January 2004. That evening, a then-30-year-old woman and a friend got off the metro at Voorschtoerlaan station in Rotterdam. On Lusthofstraat, the friend got into an argument about money with a group of five or six men. The friend walked away, but the woman remained behind and tried to resolve the situation.

The men told her they would go get her friend’s money. She walked with the men to Paulus Potterstraat, where the men surrounded her and one raped her while the others watched. They then took her to Rozenburg Park, where several other men raped her as well.

Despite extensive investigation, the police could not solve the case at the time, but new information led them to reopen it recently. “Even though it’s been 20 years, the investigation team would like to get in touch with people who can remember something aobut the case that could be of value to the investigation,” the police said.

The men who gang-raped the woman all had short dark hair and a slightly tanned complexion. At the time, they were estimated to be between 18 and 30 years old; some may have been minors.

“They are probably now in their late 30s or somewhere in their 40s. The men may come from the neighborhood and still live in Rotterdam or even specifically in the Kralingen neighborhood,” the police said.