A Christian pastor from Middelstum, Groningen, was acquitted on Tuesday afternoon of charges of years of sexual abuse of a young woman. According to the judge, it could not be proved that there was coercion. The prosecution had demanded a prison sentence of six years.
The accused, Jan-Willem M., former pastor of the revival community Kwa Sizabantu Movement (KSB), allegedly performed sexual acts with the woman from 1999 to 2010. The woman filed a police report in 2017. At the substantive hearing of the case, in July, she claimed that M. had her ‘completely in his chokehold’. M. acknowledged during that earlier hearing that he had a sexual relationship with the woman.
The court concluded that there was sufficient evidence for the sexual acts during the period from March 2001 to March 2010, when the woman was of age. The woman also reported two situations when she was a minor. The judge ruled that the evidence for these was lacking.
The judge found that there was a dependency relationship between M. and the woman. Thus, the woman came to live with M. and his wife when she was a minor. ‘This meant, among other things, that the declarant was entrusted to the care of the accused,’ he said. There was also an age difference of over 13 years.
In addition, the judge notes that the KSB was ‘very important’ to the woman and M. had ‘considerable standing’ within that community at the time. The judge referred to a witness statement stating that M. was considered ‘a future leader’, ‘especially in the eyes of young people within the community’. M. also gave speeches for the organisation True Love Watch, on sexual purity before marriage.
However, the court considers it unproven that the sexual acts would have been ‘hardly avoidable’ for the woman. Among other things, it points out that the young woman moved back in with M. after living with her parents for a period of time. ‘That was voluntary.’
In addition, from the age of 23, the woman lived in various places in the Netherlands, had social contacts outside the church community and left for Israel for six months. According to the court, these circumstances create the impression ‘that the woman was able to move safely at home and abroad and also had a life outside the KSB community’. The court therefore ruled that ‘it does not have the conviction that the woman could under no circumstances resist psychological coercion’.
Both M. and the declarant were not present at the hearing at the court in Groninge.
Linda den Hollander