At least 8 Dutch men suspected of drugging, raping, filming their wives, girlfriends
The Dutch police have identified at least eight men suspected of drugging and then raping their wives or girlfriends while filming the abuse. Four of these men are in custody. The other four have yet to be arrested pending further investigation, the police reported on Thursday.
The police launched this investigation based on information received from government agencies in Germany and England that they’ve identified multiple Dutch women in drugged rape videos. The police discovered private social media groups where men share tips on how to best drug women and images of abuse.
Detectives from the Rotterdam police identified eight suspects. They are all men aged between 21 and 51 from Rotterdam, Sassenheim, Hilversum, Veldhoven, Sint Willebrord, Amstelveen, the municipality of Hulst, and the municipality of Horst aan de Maas. The police raided their homes last week, May 27 and 28, and arrested four of them.
The police seized various data carriers, including computers, USB drives, SD cards, and phones, for further investigation. Investigators also found narcotics, sedatives, and weapons in multiple homes.
The men in custody are from the municipalities of Horst aan de Maas, Hulst, Sint Willebrord, and Sassenheim. Additional investigation is required in the other cases, the police said. More arrests may follow.
The police are still working on identifying victims, and it is not yet known how many women are affected. “But what is clear is that this is a case with an enormous impact,” said Milou van der Kolk of the Rotterdam police’s Sexual Crimes team. “As a victim, you may not know what happened to you, because you may have been drugged and were unconscious. The news that your partner or an acquaintance may have drugged you and perhaps even raped you, or attempted to do so, can turn your life completely upside down.”
Victim Support is standing ready to provide immediate support to all victims, working closely with the Center for Sexual Violence (CSG) and domestic violence support organization Veilig Thuis.
“When a woman hears that sexual acts have been performed on her body without her knowledge, it is very traumatic,” said Iva Bicanic, director of CSG. “The uncertainty about exactly what happened is also very impactful for the victim during the police investigation. Combined with the realization that her boundaries and trust have been severely violated, this can cause a great deal of stress and distress.”
Drug-facilitated sexual abuse has made multiple headlines since Giselle Pelicot’s case in France made world news. Her husband drugged her for years and let dozens of other men rape her while unconscious. He filmed and documented the abuse.
Last month, the Dutch authorities took down Motherless, a porn site known for videos of drug-facilitated rape that was hosted in the Netherlands. The website popped back online again less than two weeks later.
According to the police, men often use substances like GHB, Rohypnol, and sleeping pills like zolpidem to drug women. “Signs often resemble heavy drunkenness and can appear quickly,” the police said. “They are sedatives that suppress the nervous system and can cause memory loss.”
