The suspected Eindhoven resident admitted to supplying drugs to addicted prostitutes. He denies that he abused the women. The district court in Den Bosch does not consider it proven that a 38-year-old Eindhoven resident profited from the prostitution activities of addicted women working in the Eindhoven streetwalkers' district. However, according to the court there is sufficient evidence that he supplied the women with drugs. The court charged him heavily that his clients were in a vulnerable position. The man from Eindhoven received a twelve-month prison sentence, of which five were suspended. The requirement was 24 months, eight of which were suspended. The sentence imposed means that the Eindhovenian will soon be released. He has been detained since November.

Hans Boeving from Zaltbommel is fine with the ruling. "The drug trade he added himself. And about those other facts, surely there were very contradictory statements made."

Boevinnk thinks the sentence, given that only drug trafficking was declared proven, is still fairly severe. "Which is half the requirement. For drug trafficking only. The demand was for drug trafficking and human trafficking."

Boevink sees the ruling as a defeat for the prosecutor. "Who has indicated that the case against the Eindhoven native is part of a bigger picture. But he personally charged him with something, not membership in a criminal organization, or something like that. I also thought it showed guts that the officer wanted to get this suspect convicted. Because he certainly didn't have a strong case. And then you can lose, of course."

Ursela de Jogh from Tilburg also thinks the court was right to acquit the Eindhoven man for the most part. "In my gut I say he did take advantage of those women, but that is more because of the impression the person made on me. The officer made the case convincingly, but the evidence was thin."

The sentence imposed strikes Ursela as "pretty severe. "But I honestly don't know what is usual for drug trafficking," she said. "It's kind of what I expected," Wil Prince responded upon learning that the court had largely acquitted the Eindhoven native. "I would have preferred it to be different, because I do think he did give it, but guilt has to be proven.

One of those ladies had been subpoenaed to appear as a witness, but she had not shown up. That must not have made a good impression on the court either."

"That's what I was afraid of," responds Huub Janssen of Tilburg. "I am convinced that he intimidated those girls. That's why that one girl didn't dare come to the hearing. That lawyer capitalized on that. That's his job. But I don't think justice was done."