Child abuse is unfortunately not an exceptional occurrence, it is all too common for parents and others to abuse and sexually abuse children. According to statistics, 100,000 children are mistreated and abused every year in the Netherlands alone. These children are scarred forever, the perpetrators get a few months, sometimes a few years and in very extreme cases, years. But never enough in the face of the life sentence of the innocent.
The life of the innocent
1986 Zwolle
A father has been sentenced to twelve months in prison for incest with his daughter, four months of which are conditional. The man has admitted to having committed incest with his daughter in 1983 and 1984. This happened after his daughter came to him to ask for help for being sexually abused by her stepfather.
1990 Leiden
A forty-two-year-old Leiden resident was arrested on suspicion of committing fornication with children he taught recorder lessons. The man picked up the children from their parents by car and took them back home after lessons. One of the students told the story at home about what the man did and got the case rolling. Further investigation revealed that the man had sexually assaulted several children in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Four parents have filed a report. His stepdaughter, who was twenty-year-old in 1990, also reported the crime after she heard what had happened. According to the stepdaughter, she was abused by her stepfather from the age of eight to 12.
1990 Dordrecht
A father from Leerdam has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for prostitution of his nine-year-old daughter. The mother was sentenced to eighteen months for the fact that she had done nothing when the men raped the girl several times. The case came to light when two men confessed that they had had sexual intercourse with a nine-year-old girl, with parental consent. The father was also accused of committing incest with his daughter, who was six years old at the time. The man denied the incest, but admitted that he was okay with the men sleeping with his daughter, as long as they paid.
1990 Arnhem
For committing incest with his daughter for five years, a fifty-eight-year-old man from ‘s Heerenberg was sentenced to eight years. From the age of seven, the girl suffered sexual humiliation in an environment of violence, intimidation and neglect. The girl was regularly tied to her bed and abused by her father. The photos of this abuse were passed from hand to hand at family parties. She was also abused by both her brothers and by a number of acquaintances, with the father’s permission. At a very young age, the girl ended up in hospital due to malnutrition. The now sixteen-year-old girl has scars on her back, neck and upper legs. It turns out that the father regularly called his daughter to order by beating her with a belt and working her with a razor. She was also thrown down the stairs once, after which she had to go to hospital with a complicated leg fracture. Cigarette butts were regularly left on her legs by the brothers and her father. A large group of people must have been aware of these atrocities. However, no one has taken any action to put an end to it. Only after the girl had been removed from her home did she dare to tell her story about a television series about incest.
1995 Rotterdam
Due to years of incest with his five daughters, a fifty-two-year-old Rotterdam resident has been sentenced to five years in prison. He admitted to abusing his eldest daughter from the age of eight and his youngest daughter from the age of four. He also admitted to abusing his daughters over a period of twenty-five years. The twenty-five year old son is also a suspect in the case. This case became known when the eldest daughter filed a report.
2000 Leiden
A thirty-seven-year-old Leiden resident was sentenced to twelve months for fornication with his stepdaughter and her niece. During a sleepover he allegedly abused both girls. The mother took her boyfriend naked from her daughter’s bedroom. The Leiden resident stated that he no longer knew what had happened due to drink and weed, but he could not imagine that he would have sexually assaulted the girls. The stepdaughter stated that he had abused her before. The man denied that.
2008 Bennekom
On suspicion of systematic abuse of their four children, the police arrested a forty-eight-year-old father and a forty-nine-year-old mother. According to the sixteen-year-old daughter and the fourteen-year-old son, who filed the report, their father had been kicking and hitting the children for years. The two younger sisters, aged eight and six, are also said to have been regular victims. The two oldest children have been placed in a foster family, and youth care has taken care of the two youngest children.
2010 Rotterdam
The parents of a baby have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting the baby, after which it died. The twenty-one year old mother and the twenty-seven year old father were previously arrested. They then took their other daughter to the hospital, where suspicion arose that she had been abused. The baby had brain damage and broken bones.
Tip of a huge iceberg
These are just a few examples of adults who should actually make children feel safe, loved and protected.