THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW WITH
THE ARUBAN CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR HANS MOS

Thursday 24 January 2008

Hans Mos, the chief public prosecutor in Aruba, heads up the investigation in the case of the missing American teenager Natalee Holloway. On Thursday 24 January 2008 crime reporter Peter R. DeVries showed him the most significant shots from the undercover camera operation. The lead investigator’s response was upbeat and immediately announced the opening of a new investigation.

Peter R. DeVries: “Yes mister Mos, this seems to me what you and you’re people have been dreaming of the past few years, a confession of Joran, isn’t it?”
Hans Mos: “Yes, when you look at it, and you have shown me some material, this is very impressive, I think, when you see him explaining what really happened that night.”  
Peter R. DeVries: “Joran has been hard as nails lieing all these years, if you hear the story”
Hans Mos: “Yes I see elements in this statement, which you can find in earlier statements, but he never gave the correct interpretation and never told the truth to us.”
Peter R. DeVries: “Isn’t it very disturbing if you see how America, Aruba and the Netherlands are under the spell of this case and now he carelessly gives an explanation in the front seat of a car.”
Hans Mos: “ Yes, I think so too, it makes an impression, it’s the first time he's told it to somebody, it seems. This is his real ‘coming out’ in the case we have to say. You can see how he does it, that’s why it makes an impression. And that’s indeed disturbing, the fact that he was able to say nothing for two years. And what I find even more disturbing: he suggests all kinds of things incriminating other people. People that suffered because of it until this day. We have to work this all out, but if it’s true what he says, it’s indeed disturbing.”
Peter R. DeVries: “What stands out for me in this: the fact that it is a young man, not touched emotionally by this case. He talks about it thoughtlessly and with little respect to Natalee”  
Hans Mos: “Yes, that was… I have also watched your program with Joran and his parents, where they spoke about the way he was raised and the way he treats girls. We know from the police report that that was different. It surprises me that it has been said like this. Anyone could have known that it was different and what his intentions usually were in the weekends when he went out with those kinds of girls, mainly American tourists. The way he talks about it shows very little respect and I find that quite shocking actually.”
Peter R. DeVries: “When Joran was released recently, it has been said: he is not a suspect anymore and the investigation of him has been closed. This will re-open the investigation again, I presume?”
Hans Mos: “Yes, this gives us reason to take a closer look at this case again. Look, we have to verify a number of things. Because, that is the miserable thing about this boy, he writes… I can remember vividly the headlines of De Telegraaf [a Dutch newspaper] a year ago: “I am still lying”. Look, we find in his statements now a number of key-points which can be confirmed in the police report, but we have to be sure now. That prompts a new investigation and we will do that.”
Peter R. DeVries: “But if he has lied about this, than he maybe cleared for Natalee case, but he should be locked up for being crazy. Don’t you think?”
Hans Mos: “It seems very unlikely to me that in such a conversation, set apart from the question how to value a ‘front seat’ or ‘back seat confession’… Anyway it’s a very convincing story, also because of the way how it came together, but we have to verify some things and we have to research this. If he is lying here then he hangs himself in an incredibly stupid way and that I do not believe, because he is an intelligent boy. And we’ve already experienced that.”
Peter R. DeVries: “Are you happy with this?”
Hans Mos: “On one side yes. On the other side it’s also perplexing to see what has happened and that causes some confusion. You’re being confronted with that fact. One is happy because it seems the case has been solved. That’s something we’ve been working on for two and a half years in which time we could never actually reveal the truth. People have asked sometimes: ‘Why can’t you complete this case?’ Because we lacked forensic evidence, we didn’t have the body, there were no witnesses. One has to depend in large part on the parties involved in this situation. Of these parties he was the most important and if he keeps his mouth shut or doesn’t tell the truth, it is extremely difficult for us. Now at least the truth is surfacing and with that we can at least wrap up the case.”