The Public Prosecution Service is handling the case against four care farm employees itself

ANP Productions | Source: ANP

Today at 12:34

The Public Prosecution Service itself decides whether four employees of a care farm in Wedde, Groningen, will be punished for abusing disabled residents. The case is submitted to the public prosecutor and not to the court. It is not yet known when that will happen.

The Public Prosecution Service can handle cases itself when someone deserves punishment, but when it is not considered necessary to submit this to a judge. In this case, according to the Public Prosecution Service, the four were guilty of “serious misconduct”, which they continued for a long time. They also never raised the alarm about this. On the other hand, the four “have already experienced significant consequences of their actions due to reporting on social media in particular.”

Five other employees are released. Their cases are dismissed. Four of them may have abused residents of the care farm, but according to the Public Prosecution Service their role was so small that prosecution is not necessary. The fifth employee reported the abuse to the police and to investigative journalist Alberto Stegeman, which brought the abuses to light.

The two main suspects, the owners of the Aurora Borealis care farm, will appear in court in Groningen in June. They are accused of assaulting ten residents. Very vulnerable clients, sometimes seriously disabled, were humiliated and abused. For example, a client is said to have had his head pushed into a toilet. Another was allegedly placed in a ditch by staff and another was placed outside under a dripping garden hose. The care farm was closed almost immediately after these abuses were exposed.