The mayor of Stadskanaal has appealed for calm and warned residents against taking the law into their own hands, after homes linked to the two women arrested on suspicion of severely abusing their children were boarded up amid continuing unrest in the Groningen town.
Mayor Klaas Sloots said he understood the anger and grief in the community but urged people to let police and prosecutors do their work. “Taking the law into your own hands and committing vandalism do not help the children,” he wrote. “They obstruct the investigation and make the situation in the neighbourhood less safe.”
Two houses in the area have been sealed shut as a precaution, broadcaster NOS reported. One is believed to belong to one of the women, the other to a brother of the second suspect.
The emergency ordinance imposed on Thursday evening – after a crowd smashed windows in the neighbourhood – remains in force until Monday, with police maintaining a presence in the area.
Suspects in custody
The two women, aged 31 and 33, were placed in formal police custody on Thursday, the prosecution service said in a written statement. It will decide within three days whether to extend the detention. A decision on whether to bring the women before a judge is expected next week.
The pair, who are friends and the mothers of the two children, face charges of child abuse and unlawful deprivation of liberty. Both have had their parental rights suspended.
The prosecution service said it had not arrested the women earlier because investigators had assessed the children to be safe and wanted to build the case before making arrests.
Thursday’s events forced them to bring the operation forward, it said, because of “the resulting social unrest and security concerns”. Reporting restrictions on the case prevent it from sharing further details.
Planned abuse
Child protection experts also told NOS on Friday that the patterns described in the case – confinement, isolation, food as punishment and humiliation – pointed to systematic, planned abuse rather than impulsive violence.
Leiden professor of juvenile law Mariëlle Bruning said serious warning signs from schools, GPs and a hospital admission had been raised but “got stuck”, probably at the child abuse hotline Veilig Thuis.
Veilig Thuis said in a statement that it had “immediately” acted in this case and filed a report with the Health and Youth Inspectorate, but declined to comment on individual cases.
NOS reported on Friday that the abuse had also been filmed. The six-year-old girl was hospitalised twice, including for severe malnutrition. The seven-year-old boy was beaten, confined in the basement, and regularly forced to witness the abuse of the girl. The mayor said both children are safe and being well cared for.
