Doomsday dad kept kids in dog cages for 10 years over apocalypse fears

For over a decade, Gerrit Jan Van Dorsten subjected his children to abuse and would even confine them in cages as part of his twisted conviction that the world was ending.

The six young people, all of whom had reached adulthood by the time of their eventual rescue, suffered years of horrific mistreatment. They experienced routine beatings, were deprived of food, and one was even confined in a kennel for an entire summer.

Following his 2019 arrest, Van Dorsten justified his disturbing conduct by claiming his children were “unclean” and his appalling treatment would “stop evil spirits”.

It was the courageous decision of one of Van Dorsten’s own children, Israel, known as Jan, that ultimately liberated his siblings and led to his father’s arrest.

One evening in October 2019, Jan entered a bar in a small Dutch village and revealed what had been occurring inside the family’s secluded home. Staff immediately alerted police, who raced to the location and discovered a disturbing situation, reports the Daily Star.

Officers freed Van Dorsten’s children from the house of horrors and he was charged with administering “very serious physical punishment”.

Jan’s account at the bar that evening shocked and horrified everyone present. He revealed that he and his siblings had been prohibited from leaving the property for nine years and were awaiting the apocalypse.

As investigators delved deeper, they discovered Van Dorsten had confined his own children, all between the ages of 18 and 25, in small, specially-constructed cells within a concealed dungeon underneath the residence.

The subsequent court proceedings following the disturbing discovery also revealed one of the children, a boy, had been disciplined by having both his hands and feet restrained.

Another child was imprisoned in a dog house for an entire summer, prosecutors told the court, and compelled to live separately from the rest of the family in a caravan.

A 61-year-old Austrian handyman, characterized as a ‘disciple’ of Van Dorsten, was imprisoned for assisting in isolating the children.

Dutch privacy regulations meant he could only be named as Joseph B, but the court learned he would deliver food and supplies to the family and that without his assistance the horrific abuse and isolation would have concluded much earlier.

The court, held in the Dutch city of Assen, however found Joseph B not guilty of detaining three older children and abusing any of van Dorsten’s children.

Following a stroke, van Dorsten himself was considered too unwell for trial.