Gianni de W. gets 6.5 years in prison and TBS for online abuse of dozens of girls | Tech

The sentence imposed by the judge is virtually the same as the prosecutor’s demand. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded a prison sentence of seven years and TBS with compulsory treatment.

Instead of TBS with compulsory treatment, the judge imposes TBS with conditions. In addition, the suspect must pay more than 91,000 euros in compensation to his victims.

De W. is sentenced for abusing thirty girls and young women online. These are the victims who filed a complaint against him. Most of them were still minors when the crimes took place.

But the online abuse case is much bigger than the thirty reports. De W. is said to have killed at least 172 (mostly minor) victims. During the hearing of the lawsuit in March, it became clear that De W. mainly sought his victims via Snapchat and Instagram.

More than 300,000 images of them were found on his phones. Some digital folders contained thousands of photos of one victim.

The suspect tried to get girls to take a series of nude photos of themselves via social media. De W. promised the girls that he would pay for this and that the images would remain safe and private.

But once the victim sent racy photos or videos, he turned to extortion. He demanded more photos and videos. For example, he also forced his victims to perform sexual acts on themselves and to film this.

If victims did not do what De W. demanded of them, he threatened to make the images public. In this way the suspect gained control over many victims.

The online abuse had major consequences for the victims, as was evident from various victim statements that were read out during previous hearing days. The girls were scared, had trouble sleeping and performed poorly at school.

Some victims no longer dared to go to school because they were afraid that classmates had seen the abuse photos. In addition, many of them have suffered serious psychological complaints from online abuse.

Not only complete strangers fell prey to De W. He also abused girls from his immediate environment online.

Experts said during previous hearings that De W. has reduced accountability. The suspect has autism. Due to many problems at home, he has also developed other disorders, including borderline.

Due to his autism, W. has difficulty dealing with his emotions, such as fear and anger. “That was like a kettle under enormous pressure,” one psychiatrist explained. The suspect didn’t know how to let off steam. In his adolescence, De W. discovered that sexuality was the outlet he needed.

The suspect has been in custody since October 2022. That has a positive effect on him. De W. is no longer in the difficult home situation that caused him to use online abuse as an outlet.

If the suspect ends up in the old situation again, the risk of recurrence is high, according to the experts. That is why they advise De W. to receive intensive guidance, such as assisted living, even after his sentence and treatment.

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