Six moths after a Dutch woman was sexually assaulted in her own bedroom after being awoken by her attacker, the police are finally releasing a video of the suspect. Now, they are already requesting everyone delete his photo and say they have also deleted a copy of his photo, despite the man not having been apprehended.
The woman was sleeping in her room on June 21, 2024, in Tuinstraet in Groningen in the Netherlands when a “dark-skinned” man forced his way into her home. The man appeared near her bed at 10:00 a.m. and was caught by surveillance riding his red bicycle around the same time of the attack in the vicinity of the house.
The victim suddenly woke up and saw the man standing in her bedroom.
🇳🇱 Dutch police waited half a year to release this video of a Black male suspect after he allegedly broke into a young woman's bedroom while she was sleeping and started groping her.
On video, he rode a red bicycle through Groningen before the sexual assault took place. pic.twitter.com/0XbsuwlYLo
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 20, 2025“The woman told the man to leave the house immediately. Eventually, the man left, but before he left the house, he groped the young woman,” the police report stated.
In a bizarre message from the police after posting the man’s photo, they are now calling for everyone to delete the photo.
“We have received several valuable tips in the investigation into the intrusion and assault in Tuinstraat in #Groningen, last June. For that reason, we have deleted the images of the suspect. The investigation continues,” the police wrote. They then added in a subsequent post: “We request everyone who shared the images to delete them. Thanks for your thoughts and any tips.”
Wij hebben meerdere, waardevolle tips ontvangen in het onderzoek naar insluiping en aanranding in de Tuinstraat in #Groningen, afgelopen juni. Om die reden hebben wij de beelden van de verdachte verwijderd. Het onderzoek gaat verder.
— Politie Groningen (@POL_Groningen) January 20, 2025Notably, the police have not said they actually found the man yet, only that the investigation “continues.”
The suspect is described as being between 22 and 29 years old, was wearing long light-blue pants and had a black bag. He was spotted in the area around Poelstraat before the attack.
The video footage release, coming about half a year after the attack, mirrors other incidents across Europe when police wait sometimes nearly a year after an attack to release footage of a suspect. Part of the reason is that Europe has strong safeguards on privacy, which are designed to protect people who are not accused of any crime.
In one case, the police waited 11 months to release the photo of a Black male suspect who raped a woman in Darmstadt, Germany. In another case, police waited eight months to release the photo of a Turkish-speaking man who tried to rape a woman in Berlin
Notably, German media outlets were quick to run a video of German teenagers, none of whom had been accused of any crime, who were singing the infamous “Auslander Raus” song at a private party on the island of Sylt. The video had tremendous consequences and effectively ruined the lives of the young teens involved. To date, none of them have been convicted of any crime.
