The two directors of the Groningen care farm, suspected of abusing ten residents, admitted on Monday that they had exceeded the limits. This was reported by the ANP news agency, which was present on the first day of the substantive hearing of the case. “I wanted it to work so badly that I went too far,” Michel K. (37) said of a client he allegedly tied up with duct tape.
He said such incidents are not representative. Both he and his father-in-law Paul W. (63), the other suspect in the case, are said to focus on increasing clients’ self-sufficiency. “Our method worked.”
More than a year ago it became clear that things were going very badly at the Aurora Borealis anthroposophical farm in Wedde. An institution with ten residents that advertised itself as a “small-scale living and working community supporting people with intellectual disabilities, autism and acquired brain injury.”
Bucket of water on a client
After a report to the police, Health and Youth (IGJ) prepared an inspection report. It is alleged, among other things, that a mentally disabled man is told that he is not dressed appropriately and is returned to his room several times. If this does not produce the desired result, the caretaker throws a bucket of water on him and forces him to work in the garden with a bare abdomen. The same report shows that customers are called dirty and disgusting, and that one is even called ‘satan’.
Of note, some of the misconduct listed in the report was recorded in daily staff reports. The IGJ has seen other forms of abuse in images.
‘You can die in silence’
Images were also shown during the hearing, writes ANP. This showed, for example, how a client was forcibly pushed into a flower box, how a client sat with a box on his head and how a resident was left outside for a long time. Customers also suffered verbal abuse. In the images, W. can also be heard threatening. “If you open your mouth, you’re out,” he said. To another: “You can die in silence. “You are worth money, that is the only reason you stay.” He also asked a member of staff if any customers had already been “strangled.”
K. said he was “embarrassed to death” and attributed his behavior to lack of sleep. “Someone on staff should have told me to leave at that point,” he said.
Other suspects
The Public Ministry also investigated nine other employees of the care farm. Four of them may have abused residents of the care farm, but according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office their role was so small that they do not need to be prosecuted. The fifth employee, also a suspect, revealed the abuse. The other four suspects will have to answer to the prosecutor during a hearing.
Sentencing demands in the case involving the two main suspects are expected Wednesday.
Also read:
Abuse, bad language and confinement: how can things go so wrong on a care farm in Groningen?
At a care farm in Groningen, extremely vulnerable clients were systematically abused to the point of sadism. The inspection did not intervene until months later. “We can’t get in the car for every phone call.”