In the spectacular case of the isolated family on a remote farm in the Netherlands, Austrian Josef B. was sentenced to three years in prison. The court in Assen found him guilty of deprivation of liberty on Tuesday.
According to the court, the man had allowed the father of the family to keep his children on the farm for nine years. The Dutchman Gerrit-Jan van D. has lived with six children on the farm in Ruinerwold in the northeast of the country since 2010, completely isolated from the public. Josef B., 61, had provided the family with food.
Father unfit to stand trial for stroke
The court ruled that he facilitated the crimes committed by the father’s family. However, he was acquitted of the charges of abusing the children. The father himself is not being prosecuted. The court ruled last year that he cannot stand trial after suffering a massive stroke.
Stay away from the outside world
He is said to have terrorized and abused his children psychologically and also sexually abused two of them. The Dutchman had raised his children according to a nature religion that he himself had invented on the farm near the German border and kept them away from the outside world under great psychological pressure. They were not known to the authorities, were not allowed to go to school and had never seen a doctor.
The mother of the family had died years earlier. In October 2019, a son asked for help at the village inn.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
