Experiences of participants

Manon was 17 years old when she became a victim in a serious traffic accident and lost her foot. Three years after the accident, she met the truck driver who had caused the accident under the guidance of a mediator. “I immediately thought: this man never had bad intentions.”

A fight in a local pub escalates. Martijn stabs Gerard in the stomach with a large knife. Martijn is sentenced to four years, and spends two years and eight months in prison. Years later, Martijn en Gerard meet up to talk. Gerard: “I had to get rid of that feeling somehow. Of constantly being angry.”

Mick Smits Hattink lost her husband Jan Smits in a bicycle accident. She told Volkskrant Magazine how she met the guy that hit her husband a year after the accident. “He only cried. I told him I do not blame him.”

Twelve years after athlete Ilonka was raped by her trainer, she met up with him again. A mediator from Perspectief Herstelbemiddeling guided the meeting. “The roles were reversed now. I was able to tell my story, I was in control, and that was a good thing for me.”
 

E. was sexually abused as a child by a family friend. 35 years later, he meets with him. “I’m here to get closure.”

Gwen was robbed in her home and threatened with a knife. After the perpetrator was arrested, Gwen got a call from a mediator from Perspectief. The perpetrator wanted to talk with her. Together with the mediator, Gwen visited him in the youth prison.

Hans had an unfortunate fall. During the first diagnosis at the hospital, he’s told he hasn’t broken anything. Later that evening he hears that he has a spinal fracture. 

Frans is in Leeuwarden prison for assault and making threats. He’ll be getting out soon. Not that long ago, he spoke to a mediator from Perspectief at a reintegration market. He took a folder, which skimmed once. Could this be something for him?

Already during his prison sentence, Ata wanted to apologize to the victims of the fire he started in asylum seekers center. After he got out, a probation worker applied for him at Perspectief Herstelbemiddeling. What followed was a special conversation between victim and offender.