As the investigation into the death of the man over the weekend in Assen continues, more information about his identity is being made public: the 32-year-old Assen resident was deaf and mute.
By Hans de Preter
In the Dagblad van het Noorden on Monday 26 August, colleagues of the deceased man said that they do not believe that their former co-worked could have molested the four-year-old girl at the park in Peelo. According to one colleague, he was honest, cheerful and hard working in his job as a gardener.
The man apparently intended to watch motorcycle races with a friend that Saturday afternoon. When this friend turned out not to be home, he decided to wait on the playground. Because he was mute, he could not call his friend, so he may have been attempting to contact him via text message, which could have been misinterpreted as taking pictures of children nearby.
According to the Dagblad, there have been rumours circulating in recent weeks through social apps about potential child molesters in the vicinity. The five men who had been held in police custody since Saturday on connection with the man’s death were released on Sunday night.
The investigation by the criminal investigation into the possible sexual offense also continues, but the police have said that no further announcements will be made about the case out of respect to the privacy of those involved. An autopsy was scheduled to be carried out on the deceased man by a pathologist at the Netherlands Forensic Institute NFI.
