Basketball coach jailed for sexually abusing several boys

A Dutch basketball coach has been jailed for 3.5 years to be followed by psychiatric prison for sexually abusing several under-age boys.

The 49-year-old man from Mijdrecht was found guilty of abusing three boys between 2000 and 2002 and assaulting another boy in 2013. Judges in Utrecht also found him guilty of forcing 12 boys to carry out sex acts online between 20014 and 2016 by pretending to be a teenage girl.

Psychologists told the court the man had a serious personality and sexual disorder and there was a major risk he would re-offend. The public prosecution department had called for a seven year jail term.

Last month, Dutch sport and athletics umbrella group NOC*NSF launched a major investigation into possible sexual abuse within the Dutch sports sector.

Britain

The NOC*NSF has been prompted to launch the investigation after hundreds of footballers came forward in Britain to talk about being abused by trainers.

According to Gerard Dielessen, director of the NOC*NSF, the organisation’s hotline gets around 200 reports of problem behaviour a year, and this includes cases of sexual abuse.

The federation also has a blacklist of coaches, but there is just one name on it, the Volkskrant said.

It is still not compulsory for people working with children to have a declaration of good behaviour, or VOG, although an increasing number of sports clubs have made them a requirement.