Former police officer acquitted in rape case involving 17-year-old

A Dutch court has cleared two men of rape charges involving a 17-year-old girl in Nieuwegein. One of the suspects, Walco B.,45, was employed as a police officer at the time of the allegations and later lost his job.

On the night of October 18, 2025, B. was out with co-suspect Wouter van A.,48, when they met the girl in Cafe Bakkers in IJsselstein and offered to drive her home to Nieuwegein. Her friends were denied entry due to age restrictions, leaving her by herself, RTV Utrecht reported.

B. explicitly made it known to the teenager that he was a police officer when offering her a ride home in the cold. At the time, he was a seasoned, highly regarded officer with leadership duties within the Central Netherlands (Midden-Nederland) police unit.

According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), they instead stopped at a fast-food parking lot, where the victim was allegedly sexually abused for around 80 minutes. She was reportedly intoxicated and in a highly vulnerable situation, unable to leave despite not consenting to sex.

Forensics found both semen and DNA belonging to B. inside the victim's body. Semen belonging to Van A. was found on the vest the teenager was wearing that night.

B. claimed he was "dead drunk" and could not remember the exact details, but stated he could "do the math" given the DNA evidence. Van A. gave a highly contested explanation for his DNA, claiming that after kissing the girl, he sat in the driver's seat and fell asleep. He claimed he woke up with a morning erection, masturbated, and that his semen flew over his shoulder onto her vest.

One of the judges openly noted during the trial that this explanation contradicted Van A.'s initial police interrogations, where he admitted to suggesting a threesome.

The victim read an emotional statement directly to the court, expressing extreme powerlessness caused by fear and alcohol. She stated: "The fear I felt was so massive, it felt like my heart dropped to my stomach... I don’t understand how the suspects can claim that I wanted this. I didn't even react." She testified that she continues to suffer from severe emotional numbness and emptiness.

In its ruling, the court said it found the girl’s testimony reliable, but ruled that sexual abuse could not be legally proven. The judges said the central question was whether she was in an especially vulnerable position during the sexual acts, which they could not confirm.

The court also noted that the sexual contact ended when she said she wanted to go home, and that she had not explicitly indicated at the time that it was against her will.

The prosecution had recommended a four-year prison sentence for both men. They ultimately spent three months in custody awaiting trial.