UU student sentenced to ten months for rape

In April 2024, the victim, a member of the UVSV sorority, visited the headquarters of the USC fraternity for a “date dinner”, a practice in which people have dinner with blind dates, as a group. She stayed overnight with her date, but indicated that she did not want to have sex with him. The court found sufficient evidence that the USC member raped her and used physical force to do so.

Delayed graduation
The USC student will not only receive a ten-month unconditional prison sentence but also be prohibited from contacting the UVSV student for two years. In addition, he must compensate her for damages, including the delay in her graduation.

Before the rape, she had passed all her courses, but after the incident, she was unable to study for a while due to psychological problems, as confirmed by her therapist and her student counsellor. As a result of this delay, she will be able to start working only later in life, which will affect her income for a while. In addition, the USC member will have to compensate her for other costs and immaterial damage.

Message
The sentence is close to what the Public Prosecution Service had demanded: 20 months, 6 of which unconditional. The Public Prosecution Service wanted to send a message to all students that “sexual relationships require mutual consent”.

During the trial, the USC student denied having coerced the UVSV member into having sex. His solicitor, therefore, demanded his acquittal. After the verdict, USC informed the national newspaper NRC that the perpetrator had been suspended and that the fraternity's board was considering further steps.

Last year, another USC member was sentenced to three years in prison for raping two women. The fraternity also came under fire for distributing a “list of women to bang” and for behaving inappropriately while volunteering as lifeguards on the Texel island.