Former dance school owner Khalid A. (38) from Groningen has been sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting and raping thirteen young women. The prison sentence is in accordance with the requirement of the Public Prosecution Service.
The victims are students of Groningen Dance Center (GDC) and almost all were minors. A. has led the dance school with approximately 450 students since 2004.
The abuse took place from 2015 to last year during private sessions. According to A., those separate practice sessions were necessary to join a demo team or to qualify for a career in America. This often involved stretching exercises and massages that ended in sexual acts.
The judge finds the statements of the victims reliable. According to the judge, A. abused his dominant position. The stretching exercises had “undeniably a sexual charge”, according to the judge. According to the judge, A. only “had an eye for the satisfaction of his own needs, without caring about the harmful consequences of his behavior for the victims.”
Denied
A. has denied all allegations except one, writes RTV North. He admits that he had sex with one of his students, but that it was voluntary. According to A. they were in love with each other. According to him, the rest of the sexual acts never took place.
Professional and contact ban
A. was also banned from working for five years and banned from contacting the victims. Both measures follow the prison sentence. A. is fully accountable, according to the court. Experts have found no mental disorders in him.
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