Suspect in 1990 rape of girl, 14, to remain jailed before trial, says The Hague court
A 59-year-old man arrested earlier this year in connection with the rape of a teenager in 1990 was ordered to remain in pre-trial detention during a hearing at the District Court in The Hague. He has partially confessed to tricking the 14-year-old victim into letting him inside her home, then threatening her with a knife before sexually assaulting the girl. The court remanded him to jail until the trial date, which has been set for October 29.
The violent crime took place in Bodegraven on March 30, 1990, when the suspect, who was 24 years of age at the time, realized that the teenager was home alone. Prosecutors said he rang the doorbell, “entered the home under false pretenses,” and then overpowered her.
Willem V. “raped her while threatening to stab her with a knife,” the prosecutor said in court, according to ANP. “The nightmare of every parent leaving a child home alone.” The victim has been notified of the arrest, investigators said several months ago.
Prosecutors initially stated that V., from Altena, Noord-Brabant, confessed under police questioning. However, he has denied threatening to stab the girl, ANP reported.
Still, there was no justification to releasing him from custody at this time, the court said, according to the news outlet. The hearing on Wednesday was the second time the District Court in The Hague remanded the suspect to jail for a period of 90 days, the maximum allowed.
Decades after the evidence was collected following the violent crime in 1990, a breakthrough happened earlier this year. With the United Kingdom joining the Prüm Treaty, there were more opportunities to match DNA data with the participating countries. Forensic evidence from the Bodegraven case matched a sample collected as part of a 2003 British criminal investigation.
Although V. was not convicted in that case, further investigation led Dutch authorities to arrest V. at his Altena home on May 14 of this year. A search of the home uncovered “prohibited weapons and ammunition”, which led to further charges against him.
