Former Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht mayor gets 1 year in prison for child pornography

A Rotterdam District Court convicted former Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Mayor Herman J. for distributing, offering, acquiring, and possessing content portraying child sexual abuse. He was acquitted on charges of sexually abusing a male victim for over a decade, including a period of time when J. served as mayor of the Zuid-Holland town. The judges presiding over the case in Dordrecht sentenced J. to one year in prison, including four months suspended.

J., 77, held his office from 1996 to 2011. Police arrested him on Feb. 17, with investigators saying they found 1,036 images containing child sexual abuse material on devices seized from J. The material was comprised of 632 photos and 404 videos showing sexual acts involving minors, including some very young children.

The court said J. entered the world of child sexual abuse material while seeking new forms of sexual arousal. “In his search for new stimuli, the suspect apparently ended up in the reprehensible world of child sexual abuse material. The focus for the suspect was solely on satisfying his own sexual needs. In that context, he viewed, stored, and forwarded images,” the court said when convicting him.

At least some of the content was also believed to be shared online. But J. denied deliberately searching for the material during the trial. He said some files had been sent to him by another person. His sentence matches the punishment requested by the Public Prosecution Service.

J. also denied sexually abusing an individual who pressed charges, claiming that a lengthy period of illegal contact started when he was a teen, and the man was in office as mayor. The allegations were considered separately during the proceedings, and cover a period from 2005 to 2016, both before and after the politician had retired.

"However, the court does not consider the assaults proven. In the judgment, the court said outright that such acts often occur without witnesses present, and that was also the case in this matter," according to a statement from the Rotterdam District Court. "Moreover, establishing the truth is hindered because it concerns a lengthy period of time where the last alleged incident took place ten years ago."

J. denied those charges during the trial. “I have no memory whatsoever of any sexual contact,” J. said. “So it did not take place.” He claimed he had only spoken with the boy at length and “acted as a sounding board” for him.

The judges overseeing the case found that the victim's recollection was not backed by other evidence, and that his parents were unable to provide "sufficient concrete facts" or circumstantial evidence to support the claim. "The defendant contradicted the complainant's statement, especially with regard to the touching of the complainant's genitals." J. said other forms of physical contact, like touching the individual's head, were not "lewd" in nature. The court said the prosecution did not sufficiently prove their charge.

The former mayor also said he had not been diagnosed with pedophilia or another disorder. Prosecutors said experts had not ruled this out, because they were not able to complete a profile of the man.

At the end of the proceedings, J. said he regretted his actions. He said he would step down from his roles as a confidential adviser at football club ASWH and as a civil registrar.

“I regret this. It will never happen again, and I am ashamed of it,” J. said while crying. “My best psychologist is my wife.”