After a horrific crime that took place in December 2023 in Helmond, five teenagers have been convicted and received their sentences.
Four of the convicts were charged with gang-raping a homeless woman, while a fifth convict was charged with sexual assault.
A violent crime
In December 2023, the victim, a 31-year-old homeless woman, was sitting on a bench in the Burgemeester Geukerspark in Helmond when a group of teenage boys approached her.
They gathered around her, grabbed her under the arms and dragged her to a field where she was beaten and raped several times, NOS reports.
After committing the disgusting crime, the boys stole her phone and left her in the field, where the police found her badly beaten.
Trial behind closed doors
The boys, who are now 17 and 18 and come from the municipalities of Tilburg and Waalwijk, among others, were minors at the time of the crime. As a result, their trial took place behind closed doors.
The prosecution demanded two years of juvenile detention against four of the five, with a few months being conditional.
However, while the court recognised the crime as eliciting “feelings of horror and indignation … and in particular feelings of insecurity among women”, the court also acknowledged that the convicts were “unaccompanied foreign minors” in the Netherlands.
According to the court, “a lack of supervision and guidance” could have contributed to them committing the crime.
Juvenile detention and compensation
Four of the teenagers were found guilty of gang-raping the woman but received a lighter sentence than the prosecution suggested.
Three suspects were convicted to 15 months of juvenile detention, and a fourth to 12 months in juvenile detention.
Three months of those sentences are conditional, and all four suspects must pay compensation of €15,000 to the victim.
The fifth suspect was found guilty of sexual assault and was sentenced to four months of juvenile detention.
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