Three men who had sex with a 16-year-old girl in a storage room under a block of flats in Schiedam have been jailed for up to nine months by judges in Rotterdam. Two others were found not guilty because of a lack of evidence.

The girl, who had just turned 16 and comes from The Hague, had been persuaded to become a prostitute by a pimp, who advertised her services online and claimed she was ‘just’ 18.

The public prosecution department said the girl had been beaten and took drugs and was also forced to have sex without a condom.

The five men, aged 25 to 54, were traced via their phone contact information. The girl was also able to identify several of them from photographs.

Age

All five admit having sex with a prostitute in Schiedam but deny knowing the girl was a minor. However, the court ruled the men should have done more to try to establish the girl’s age.

One man, with a similar previous conviction, was jailed for nine months, another for nine months with three suspended, and a third for four months.

A similar case involving a 16-year-old girl in Valkenburg in Limburg resulted in community service sentences for almost all the men.