Background
In 1998, B.V. told her managers that a work colleague had raped and sexually assaulted her on several occasions. They referred her to a unit for sexual harassment in the workplace.
B.V. later went to the police, who interviewed the man she had accused. Investigators asked a psychology student, who was working as an intern, to give an opinion on B.V.’s mental state.
The police decided not to take B.V.’s complaint further - but they did not tell her.
Several years later B.V. learned, by chance, that the police had not followed up her complaint. She demanded that the authorities act.
Taking her case to an investigative judge, B.V. tried for years to have her claims properly examined, but few steps were taken to determine what had happened. Her case was finally dropped in 2008.