Men sentenced for rape and animal porn horror

27 January 2005

AMSTERDAM — A Dutch court has imposed sentences ranging from five to 10 years on four people found guilty of kidnapping asylum seekers and forcing them to take part in animal pornography.

During the trial, the prosecutor claimed the three North African victims escaped a brutal death in which they would have been disfigured and murdered for a “snuff” film.

The gang’s plan was thrown into disarray when one of the victims escaped from a shed in the northeastern Dutch village of Kraggenburg and raised the alarm.

Sentencing of the main suspect, Philip. M., 36, from Belgium, was held over pending a psychiatric evaluation due to suspicions he is mentally ill. The prosecution had sought a 14-year sentence, saying he was a “perverse and sadistic man” who would continue to be a danger to women if not given treatment.

His brother, Mario, 31, and Rotterdam man Edward van E., 46, who rented the shed where the women were held, were both jailed for 10 years. The prosecution had asked the court in the Dutch city of Lelystad to jail them for 12 and 10 years respectively.

Lorencia F. en Rose B. — the girlfriends of the two Belgian men — were each jailed for five years.

Van E.’s girlfriend, Gerda van V., was cleared of any involvement or knowledge of the men’s’ activities.

Originally the six, aged between 24 and 46, were placed on trial on charges of kidnapping, rape, human smuggling and membership of a criminal gang.

The three men were arrested in April 2004 after the three asylum seekers were kidnapped in Belgium and forced to have sex with men and animals in a farm shed. The sex acts were filmed.

One of the three women managed to escape and alert police. Two of them are now demanding compensation of EUR 100,000. They claim to be strongly traumatised and suffer from panic attacks. The women have since returned to Belgium.

The Dutchman and Philip M. have either denied any guilt or have refused to give testimony to the court.

Subject: Dutch + Belgian news