DutchNews.nl - Nearly 100 girls on swim teacher photos (update)

Police have found indecent photographs of 98 girls aged six to 16 on computers owned by swimming teacher Benno L, arrested earlier this week on child abuse charges.

Tens of thousands of photographs of a sexual nature were found on five computers, eight hard drives, 10 cameras and 16 memory chips at his home in Den Bosch, the Telegraaf reports.

The photos were made in and around the swimming pool where L gave swimming lessons, mainly to mentally-handicapped children. He ran his own swimming school and specialised in teaching children with learning difficulties or who were afraid of water to swim.

L was arrested on Monday afternoon following a week-long investigation. Police said he is the only suspect and there is no evidence the photos were traded. Two girls have so far been identified.

The Telegraaf reports that L was the subject of an investigation five years ago after reports that he was assaulting girls first surfaced. That investigation was closed without result, police chief Wilbert Paulissen said.

Hundreds of worried parents in Den Bosch, Vught and Drunen attended information evenings about the case on Tuesday night.

Parents were told behind closed doors that L had focused his attention on girls and that there is no evidence any children had been raped.

The parents of children who no longer have lessons from L will be brought up to date later this week.

Jan Wassenaar of the local health authority said it was still unclear when L began abusing children. 'This is the sad thing about this story. May people are being unnecessarily worried,' he told Nos tv.

Hundreds of parents will never know if their children were victims, police chief Wilbert Paulissen said.

Investigation

It has not yet been decided if the victims would need to give evidence. Inteviewing children with a mental health handicap is a 'mega job' requiring a great deal of expertise, he said.

Police expect the case will take a further four to six months to fully investigate.

A spokesman for child pornography register said the Den Bosch case was special because L did not appear to have built up his collection by swapping photos with other abusers. Collectors often have hundreds of thousands of indecent photos of children, he told the Volkskrant.

Just wondering if he was an employee from the swimming pool. In my opinion, if he was, the swimming pool management too has to be held accountable to the parents of these children for the failure to ensure the safety of the kids while in the premise and a breech of trust for employing a swimming instructor of someone of questionable character.

By Gabriella | June 17, 2009 8:55 AM

He was the owner of the swimming school.

By Hans | June 17, 2009 10:41 AM

He ran the swimming school, that doesn't mean he owns the swimming pool.
One man is unlikely to have the finances to own something like that and if he did, the papers would be calling him "Millionaire pool owner" and not "Swim teacher"

It would be difficult to blame the management if he was checked out to the limit of normal expectations. If, for example, he was self-employed and running a business he would pay rent to the pool owners and they would have limited rights to check on him as a non-employee.

It's a horrible story tho, these things always are.

By Jong | June 17, 2009 6:01 PM

Another "news" story long on innuendo and short on facts:

"Police have found indecent photographs of 98 girls aged six to 16 on computers owned by swimming teacher Benno L, arrested earlier this week on child abuse charges."

Is there a definition of and corresponding criminal charge for possession or creation of "indecent photographs" under Dutch law?

If not, what is the basis of "the child abuse charges laid"?

"Tens of thousands of photographs of a sexual nature were found on five computers, eight hard drives, 10 cameras and 16 memory chips at his home in Den Bosch, the Telegraaf reports..."

And what does this second statement have to do with the first? Are all these "tens of thousands of photographs of a sexual nature" of the 98 minors mentioned previously? Were all these tens of thousands of photos taken by the accused "in and around the swimming pool..."?

If not, what is the relevance of this factoid?

How many "indecent photos" of underage girls were actually identified by police?

How many police man-hours were expended in identifying them among the "tens of thousands"?

How were the police able to establish the criminally offending photos, or to determine that there were 98 subjects, given that only "Two girls have so far been identified."?

Do they have some fool-proof method of distinguishing an "indecent photograph... of a sexual nature" of a 15-year old from that of a 16-year old?

And will a judge, prosecutor, and defense lawyer and expert witnesses for the defense and prosecution now be reviewing and classifying all these "tens of thousands" of images?

"The Telegraaf reports that L was the subject of an investigation five years ago after reports that he was assaulting girls first surfaced. That investigation was closed without result"

So - if a previous investigation into "reports of assaulting girls" turned up no evidence to support the allegations, what then provoked the current investigation? Did Benno L suddenly turn pedophile and take all these "tens of thousands" of photos in the past five years?

There is a smell of rotting fish about this story...

By otropogo | June 17, 2009 6:49 PM