MAASTRICHT - The Valkenburg vice case, in which a teenage girl was sexually abused by dozens of men in return for payment, has occupied minds in our country in recent months. The Maastricht lawyer assisted dozens of those men in the case. He looks back for the first time on what he calls "a turbulent time.
For you, the name Valkenburg is ever and always associated with fornication, or is that going too far?
''Let me put it this way: the impact this issue has had on my career as a lawyer has been tremendous. I have built up a certain name through it, but also a lot of specific knowledge. I look back on a special case, in that it involved people who were not consciously involved in criminal things. They rolled into misery overnight."
In your practice, dozens of men who had sex with a teenage girl sat in a Valkenburg hotel room and told their stories. What has stayed with you most from that?
''Here men have sat crying like a little child. Full of shame, desperation and helplessness, they sat here before me. The panic could be read from their faces. Entire families had been disrupted. There were even divorces. Some things did touch me, I must confess. Of course sex with minors is reprehensible. I think that as a human being, or as a father, but as a lawyer you then quickly switch gears again and want to advocate for these suspects."
And then two suspects in the Valkenburg case committed suicide shortly after each other.
,,True. A visit to a brothel had disastrous consequences. I did not lie awake because of it. I do remember being worried about whether more people, possibly clients from my practice, would follow."
Prosecutor David van Kuppeveld was blamed for these suicides because he allegedly drove the men to suicide by calling on them to turn themselves in to the police. Among other things, he said: ,, Sex with a minor is punishable and I'm not going to help them keep that secret." Was the criticism of him justified?
Firm: ,,No. It must be possible to have a good debate in a courtroom. Sometimes things are said there that are not always useful, but that is part of the battle in the heat of the moment. What I find much worse is that the leadership of the public prosecutor in Limburg has publicly dismissed that officer, whom I know to be very capable. As if he was to blame for everything. I still find that absolutely unacceptable."
You are referring to the criticism expressed by Chief Public Prosecutor Roger Bos?
,,Exactly. I blame the Public Prosecution for being too harsh during the whole case. They kept saying that men who had had sex with that girl should report themselves as soon as possible, otherwise their families would not be spared. The top public prosecutors in Limburg should search their own hearts."
You are now the vice lawyer of the Netherlands because of this high-profile case?
''That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I do notice it on my phone. It's red hot from people who are vice suspects. Strangely enough, that caresses me. The indignation attached to vice cases is part of it. So I take that for granted. Child sex scandals do get attention."
