Ex-trainer is ashamed of abuse accusation, but denies | Inland

The case against Othman F., originally from Tunisia – a former international for his native country and now forty years in the Netherlands – came to be heard last February. One of his pupils, then 14 years old, had sent a message about F. to a friend that seemed so disturbing that she alerted the parents. Not much later, the police were in the gym where training was taking place at that time.

In the period after that, five more girls stepped forward who made similar accusations and said they had been touched by F.: on the clothing, under the clothing, on the breasts, abdomen, groin, legs and in the pubic area. He would also have had one of them train with a bare upper body. Three girls say he entered their vaginas with his fingers. F. would have gone further step by step.

F., who often looked after the girls as a goalkeeper coach for a long time and who built a bond of trust with the parents, says that the touch was only related to his training method. In his own words, he made them “rock hard”, he said Tuesday morning. “They wanted to get to the top and had to be resilient, not afraid of the ball.” He gave his pupils muscle tension training and pressed hard on their bodies and squeezed their breasts and pubic area, claiming to increase their pain threshold.

The suspect never intended to abuse the girls, he insisted. In one case, he admitted to going too far, but that was because he believed the girl undressed before his eyes and invited him to continue. “That shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry and ashamed of that.” His victims are claiming tens of thousands of euros in damages.

Child pornography was also found at F., who moves in court on Tuesday with a walker. The sentence will follow in the afternoon.

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