The court has sentenced a 27-year-old man from The Hague to five years in prison and TBS (compulsory treatment order) with conditions on Friday. The man posed online as a model scout and asked girls between the ages of four and thirteen for sexual images.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) previously demanded eight years in prison and TBS with compulsory care against Ibrahim A. The court imposed a five-year prison sentence and TBS with conditions on A. This means that after his prison sentence, he will receive intensive treatment in a clinic, which can be converted into TBS with compulsory care if he does not comply with certain conditions. The man must also pay seventeen victims compensation of 3,000 to 4,000 euros.
The sentence is lower because the court took into account that A. fully cooperated with the criminal investigation after his arrest and provided openness. This allowed more victims to be identified. “He has an awareness of his illness and wants to be treated intensively for his disorders,” the court says.
The 27-year-old man has been in custody since February 6, 2024. He has confessed to distributing images of child abuse; three thousand files were found on him. Thirty minor victims between the ages of four and thirteen have been identified on the image material.
According to the public prosecutor, it is the first case with such young victims, with an average age of 9.5 years. A. told the police that he had approached between fifty and one hundred girls.
A. considers criminal proceedings as ‘a new beginning’
A. posed as a female model scout who asked young victims to send nude photos and videos of themselves performing sexual acts. The man approached the young victims via TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. He told the victims how to make the images: first with clothing and later naked and sexually oriented, threatening them with fines.
He previously spoke in court of an addiction to sexting and porn, which he developed since 2020 “after a long time of despair and hopelessness”. A. also expressed regret to the young victims for the fact that he abused them “for idiotic and foolish reasons”. He considers the criminal proceedings as “a new beginning” for himself.
During the criminal proceedings, several parents made use of their right to speak. “As a mother, you want nothing more than to protect your child. But I could not protect her from you,” said one of them. “I feel disgust and horror about what you have done.”