The latest episode of True Crime Belgium, subtitled Pedosexual on Free Feet?, tells the case surrounding Pieter Ceulen, a Dutchman who lived in Antwerp, who is known as one of the most dangerous pedophiles in the country.
Ceulen was sentenced in March 2016 to 19 years in prison and fifteen years of probation. This means that after serving his sentence he will still be under the supervision of the sentencing court for fifteen years. The toughest verdict in years in a Belgian sexual offense case. He immediately appealed and the sentence was also confirmed on appeal. On April 28, 2023, after seven years in prison, he was released early. This new episode of True Crime Belgium can be viewed on Streamz since yesterday.
Ceulen led a double life for fifteen years. To the outside world he was a successful business and family man who did charity, but all the while he led a secret and, above all, criminal life. He had no less than 750 gigabytes of child pornography in his possession, an archive of almost 400,000 photos and videos. And it didn't just stop at collecting.
When investigators viewed his seized material, they discovered that he also made videos of child abuse himself. He did this online, but he also traveled to the Philippines and Cambodia where he made videos himself. In Cambodia he provided financial support to an orphanage, where he also adopted three girls and a boy. Nude photos of those girls were discovered in his possession and the court considers it proven that he also raped one of them.
In January 2012, his secret life came to light and he received the harshest verdict in years in a Belgian sexual offense case: he was sentenced to 19 years in prison and placed in the sentencing court for fifteen years. His immediate arrest was demanded and Interpol was called in because he had fled to Cambodia before the verdict. On March 11, 2016, he finally turned himself in to the police in the capital of Cambodia and was extradited to Belgium.
He immediately appealed because he said he thought his sentence was too high and that the evidence had been obtained unlawfully. In November 2016, he was sentenced again on appeal to 19 years in prison and 15 years of probation.
On April 28, 2023, Pieter Ceulen will be released conditionally by the Ghent sentencing court with eighteen strict conditions. The psychosocial service, the prison's psychiatrist, as well as the experts appointed by Pieter Ceulen's defense, conclude "that the risk of committing new offences is low and that outpatient treatment offers sufficient guarantees."
Since then he has lived in the Netherlands, where he must receive psychiatric guidance, must attend day therapy in a specialized institution, has a ban on contact with minors and is only allowed to leave the Netherlands to appear before the Ghent criminal enforcement court. These are just some of the conditions under which he lives free today.
True Crime Belgium is a production by Lecter Scripted & Docu for Streamz and Play Media. Aimée Van Meensel is the showrunner. The new episode True Crime Belgium: Pedosexual on the loose? can be seen on Streamz since yesterday and will soon also be on Play4.
Below you can watch the trailer for True Crime Belgium: Pedosexual on the loose? to look at.
