Dutch man suspected of drugging and raping partner, sharing footage online

A 37-year-old man from Hoeksche Waard in Zuid-Holland is suspected of having drugged and raped his partner on several occasions. The man allegedly filmed the incidents and shared the footage in closed social media groups. He was arrested on Monday and appeared before the presiding judge on Wednesday, who decided to extend his pre-trial detention by 14 days.

For a while now, police have been investigating rape incidents in which someone has been drugged by someone in their inner circle. Police are also investigating the closed social media groups in which the abuse is shared and in which people are advising each other on how best to drug their victims.

Police identified eight male suspects aged between 21 and 51 in the wider investigation. Four were arrested in May, with computers and phones being seized in the process, while four others were identified as suspects. The suspects came from various parts of the Netherlands.

The allegations against the suspects differ. Police said some are suspected of participating in a closed group where illegally obtained images of drugged victims were shared, while others are suspected of producing or distributing sexual abuse material or of drugging victims and sexually abusing or attempting to rape them.

Police said in June that they did not yet know how many victims there were, because investigators first needed to examine the seized phones and computers. Police specifically warned that victims may not know they were abused, because they may have been drugged to the point of losing consciousness or suffering memory loss. The investigation therefore also focuses on identifying possible victims who have not reported an incident themselves.

The police described the case as having a “huge impact” on potential victims, particularly because the alleged perpetrators were people from their immediate surroundings and therefore people they trusted.

The 37-year-old man was arrested after new information was uncovered by foreign government services from Germany and England. The investigation was started by the Team Sexual Crimes and Regional Criminal Investigation Department of the Rotterdam police unit.

Victim Support Netherlands has established a team to provide immediate support, working together with the Center for Sexual Violence (CSG) and Safe at Home (Veilig Thuis).