Dutch man accused of rape swamps court with evidence

If a picture speaks a thousand words, one magistrate will be hearing over a million, after a Dutch man, accused of the rape of a Maltese woman, presented a court with 1,300 images of the two together.

Johan Stellingwerf exhibited printed and digital photographs of him and his accuser, a Maltese woman, taken on their various trips abroad, at home as well as several nude pictures, which he claims she had sent him via email during the period 31 January to 4 June, at which time she claimed to have been raped repeatedly by the Dutchman, for hours on end and on an almost daily basis.

Other pictures which he handed to the court were taken during a wedding of a friend of hers, which he said disproved her claim that he had isolated her from her friends. Theirs was a happy relationship and he would be in constant communication with her, he said, exchanging loving messages. “She had never complained about anything.”

According to the man, the relationship soured after the woman stopped paying his company for web consultancy services. He had told her to pay her bills or he would have no choice but to begin debt collection procedures.

He presented Magistrate Aaron Bugeja with several coloured folders - which he said contained 1,300 pictures – organised in batches corresponding to their various trips abroad and periods spent together in Malta.

Stellingwerf also exhibited other intimate pictures sent to a Spanish man in Malta whilst Stellingwerf was on a business trip abroad. Answering a question by the court, he said he had taken them from her phone.

He spent two months and three weeks under arrest in Corradino prison. He exhibited photos she had taken during that period, saying, “she was having a lot of fun with other guys,”

Saying he would never rape anyone, particularly because he had been raped during his travels in Brazil, before offering to exhibit a medical report of this. The magistrate, hands now full with the unexpected avalanche of evidence he must sift through, politely declined.

Earlier on in the sitting, he had given the court an almost month-by-month, blow-by-blow account of the relationship. “I came to Malta in 2013. I met her in Paceville and she had asked me if I wanted to be her husband for the night. She took me to her house in Marsa and we had consensual sex. In May 2013 we were in a relationship, it was an exciting relationship,” said the man, who claimed to still have feelings for his accuser. “I kept on loving her even when I was in prison, I couldn’t understand why she would do this,” he said.

With regards to their business relationship, he said that he had conducted recruitment interviews in Poland for the woman’s salon. She had insisted on having a Polish hairdresser working with her, he said, as she had feared that the Maltese would steal her clients.

He claimed the former lovers had watched the 2013 Eurovision finals at Fuego in Paceville. “That weekend we stayed together. On Monday 19 May 2013, she went to work, we went to walk the dogs. On Tuesday I went to the airport and flew to Spain. During those two weeks we were texting in a very loving and amicable manner. Then in June I returned to Malta and I was accused of fraud.”

He claimed that after he was arrested, the police had told him that he worked on behalf of an inexistent company. “I was working as a web consultant for a Dutch company and had tendered [the woman] my services on behalf of the company. The Dutch court condemned her to pay €25,000 in a case against her.”

He alleged that the police had refused to check the Dutch equivalent of the MFSA website to confirm the company’s existence. He told the court that the officers had told him to “just pay her the €3,000 that she is requesting,” but he had refused, denying owing her money.

“Not even the Dutch court believed her story. Inspector Abdilla then told me, well then you’re accused of rape, ” said Stellingwerf. “But when you have been raped you are not going to go and visit your rapist in Holland.”

The case continues in July.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana is prosecuting. Lawyer Jason Grima is appearing for Stellingwerf.