He will be admitted to a clinic first
Serial rapist not free yet
Court sketch of Gerard T, taken from the documentary "Jacht op de match" by Hans Pool, 2017.
Gerard T., a 61-year-old man from Nieuwegein, was due to be released this month. He applied for parole after being sentenced to sixteen years in prison in 2017.
People convicted before 2021 can return to society after serving two-thirds of their sentence, under supervision and certain conditions. T. was to be given a "protected living space", but the Public Prosecution Service was very concerned about him. In their view, the chances of a relapse were high. The Public Prosecutor's Office therefore urged the judge to first admit T. to a forensic psychiatric clinic.
The court sided with the Public Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday. The judge acknowledged that T. had certain expectations, but agreed with the Public Prosecutor's Office that the risk of relapse was too great. T. will remain imprisoned in Vught for the time being because there is no space in a specialised clinic.
Fear
Between 1995 and T.'s imprisonment, women studying and working at Utrecht University lived in fear that the serial rapist would strike again. The university was forced to take several security measures, like having a van take women between the Olympos Sports Centre and the bus terminus near UMC Utrecht. There were also bicycle pool poles on campus that could be used to talk to UU security guards. The man was caught in 2016 thanks to a DNA match following a bicycle theft.