Forensic clinic found for Utrecht rapist Gerard T., court weighs release delay

Justice authorities have found a forensic psychiatric clinic to admit the Utrecht serial rapist, Gerard T., once he is released from prison. The municipality where the clinic is located must still give its approval. "I don’t want to think about the scenario in which this falls through," the prosecutor said Thursday in the Utrecht court.

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has asked the court to delay the 62-year-old’s release until there is a definitive agreement. The OM is requesting a delay of a year. In March of this year, the court ruled that T.’s release could be postponed for up to 180 days, until September 15.

T. was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2017, the maximum sentence, for four violent rapes on the eastern side of Utrecht, committed in 1995 and 2001. It took a long time before the police were able to arrest the man; the case led to significant unrest in Utrecht and the surrounding areas.

T. has been in custody since 2014 and has served two-thirds of his sentence, which makes him eligible for early release.

The goal is for T. to undergo resocialization so he can safely return to society under supervision in the clinic in the eastern part of the country. Several clinics have rejected him in recent months, partly because their treatment programs were not suitable.

The OM expects that, within two months and once the municipality approves, T. will be placed on the waiting list for the designated clinic. The waiting period after that is six months, the prosecutor said.

“We are now six months on, I think it is taking a long time,” said T. He added that the wait is making him nervous. He also finds the hearings about the postponement of his release unpleasant. “For the victims. I have caused those people terrible pain,” he said. He agreed to the condition that he may no longer enter the municipality of Utrecht.

According to his lawyer, T. is motivated for the treatment. “He realizes that he will continue to need support.” The attorney requested a postponement of 180 days instead of 365.

The court will deliver its ruling on September 11.