Paedophile shaves tattoo of victim off own chest

2 December 2003

AMSTERDAM — Convicted multiple child sex abuser G. Van D. used a razor to bloodily remove from his chest the tattoo portrait of one of his victims, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

The 45-year-old Van D., of Zuidwolde, was sentenced in 2002 to a five-year jail term and TBS psychiatric treatment for the sexual abuse of five children. He had previously been convicted of similar crimes.

But a court in Groningen also ordered the man to remove a tattoo from his chest depicting the portrait of one of his victims. The tattoo was meant to be removed by the end of last year, but conflict over the cost of the operation delayed the procedure.

Van D. had tattooed on his chest and arms the faces and names of various children he had abused and under the tattoo that he was ordered to remove, stood the tattooed text: “I will love you forever” and the dates of the start and end of the abuse.

The paedophile preyed on children from problem families or previously abused children he met while working as a counsellor for the health and wellbeing foundation Stichting Humanitas.

He told the victims that the tattoo depicted his deceased son. But a lawyer representing four of the man’s victims has now revealed that the man shaved the tattoo off with a razor.

The Groningen court previously ruled that the tattoo represented a violation of portrait rights, which determine that someone’s portrait cannot be published if justifiable opposition is raised. It also ruled that the tattoo violated the personal integrity of the now adult-aged victim.

Van D. has confessed to assaulting a large number of boys in the past decade and a large amount of pornographic material was found in the man’s house at the time of his 2001 arrest. The pornography included many photos of his victims.

The man was previously jailed for sexual abuse, but continued unabated with his criminal activities upon release.

Besides being sexually abused, several children were also kicked and beaten, while one of them had boiling water poured over his genitals. The child suffered behavioural difficulties as a result of the abuse.

Subject: Dutch news