10-year prison sentence for man, 32, in Groningen sextortion and rape case
The court in Groningen sentenced 32-year-old Mark S. from Borculo to 10 years in prison and institutionalization with forced treatment. The court convicted the 32-year-old man of sextorting dozens of girls and women, raping two women, and the human trafficking of two girls, AD reported live from the courtroom.
The case came to light early in 2024, when a Groningen girl went to the police and reported that someone was threatening her online. She did not want to press charges, but the police decided to investigate.
The investigation revealed that Mark S. sextorted dozens of children between 2011 and 2024. His then-girlfriend had already reported comparable behaviour at the time.
In addition to the online extortion, S. was convicted of two counts of rape. In one specific incident in Groningen in 2023, he ambushed a 17-year-old girl from the bushes and raped her after pulling her off her bicycle.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had sought institutionalized treatment against S. The court decided on a slightly lower sentence, taking more account of the man’s gambling addiction, personality disorder, and sexual disorder than the OM did. The court added that the mandatory psychiatric treatment will likely take a lengthy period of time for S., who was also ordered to pay 115,000 euros in compensation and banned from contacting any of the victims for five years.
The prosecutor did not classify Mark S.’s actions as straightforward sextortion, but instead referred to them as sexual torture, citing the extreme and coercive nature of the demands involved. Under threats of having intimate images shared, victims were coerced into committing severe and degrading acts involving relatives, acquaintances, and animals. One victim paid S. 35,000 euros in total.
S. reportedly used a large number of fake profiles on Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook to contact girls. In some cases, he pretended to be a “helper” offering support against other online harassers.
The case ultimately centred on between 21 and 30 victims, though investigators believe he may have reached out to as many as 120 girls in total. It was revealed that multiple girls had made reports years earlier, some as many as nine times, but these did not result in an arrest at the time.
The case gained further attention through the podcast SEXTORTION, created by a former football teammate and friend of S., who found out he had been misled for years by the offender.
