Two women who say they were molested in the Netherlands by a convicted Dutch serial paedophile facing similar charges in Kenya confronted their abuser on the streets of Nairobi after flying in this week.
The duo — Eustacia and her cousin Suzana, both 35 (surnames withheld) — arrived on Monday night with the aim of testifying against Hans Vriens Egon Dieter, 66, at the Milimani Law Courts.
But that did not happen, as the case was postponed from Friday this week to April 23, when a decision will be made on defilement charges facing Dieter.
The paedophile was convicted and jailed for two and a half years in the Netherlands after he was found guilty of molesting six minors. At the time, at least 182 complaints were filed against him. Dieter later relocated to Kenya and opened a series of orphanages, where investigators say he continued defiling minors.
“We still have interest in being enjoined in the case so we can testify against him, he should not be free because that is endangering more lives,” Eustacia said.
When he was confronted by the victims, Diter said the current complaints about him were made up, but added that only his lawyer could comment further.
“Let me share with my lawyer about the matter and he will get back to you,” he said as he crossed Thika Road. At Dieter’s Kitui home, the two Dutch women were shocked to see the minors’ “hard life” at Dieter’s orphanage. They said they would do everything to ensure that the children change their lives.
A woman who identified herself as Rachael during the visit to the Kitui home said that she knows Diter as a good man and that it was hard to believe that he had ever molested minors.
“Is it true that he ever did that? He might have done mistakes in the past but all I can say now is that he is a changed man,” she said, adding that the suspect visits the home twice every month. However, she said visitors were not allowed to see the children without permission from Diter.
It is not clear how he left the Netherlands for Kenya, but police say he could have been using a fake passport.
In February this year, after a joint investigation by the Nation and Nairobi News exposed his life in Kenya, the Netherlands House of Representatives asked the Legal Protection minister to temporarily confiscate passports from paedophiles in the country. His first arrest in Kenya on sex-related charges was in 2002, when he was arraigned in court for allegedly defiling three minors aged between 12 and 15 years in Donholm Estate in Nairobi.
He was released on a bond of Sh200,000 but we were unable to obtain details of the determination of the case. The two victims said they tried to closely follow the case with the aim of pinning him down by providing evidence to the Kenyan government but lost track of it.
“We did not hear about him until in November 2018, when we saw an article about his arrest and since then we hatched a plan to ensure that we be part of the case,” said Eustacia.
Diter was later released on a police bond but still faced accusations of defiling three minors aged eight, nine and 10 years in 2016. He would later disappear until November 1, 2018, when the police arrested him at his house in Roysambu estate.
The following day, he was arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts and, according to lead investigator Pazul Aboge who is attached to the Transnational Organised Crime and Child Protection Unit, the suspect duped the children’s mothers that he would sponsor their education in his “school”. The victims said that they immediately started fundraising as soon as they learnt of his arrest.
Also, in November 21, 2013 Diter had fraudulently tried to get money from a Kenyan using a fake US passport and the name Donald McDaniel. But he did not succeed, as the hotel manager reported him to the police, leading to his arrest.
Daily Nation.
