SALT LAKE CITY – A woman who was the victim of sexual assault in 2001 is speaking out 12 years later, just a short time after her attacker has been arrested for assaulting another woman.
Michael Kooyman has been on the registry of sex offenders since he assaulted Laura Sabien, and he allegedly sexually assaulted another woman on June 19.A nurse said the victim’s wounds were the most severe she’d seen, and court documents allege Kooyman threatened the victim with a gun and may have drugged her.
FOX 13 News does not normally name victims of sexual assaults, but Sabien said she has made it part of her life’s mission to speak out about her experience and about her attacker.
Sabien said she felt Kooyman should have spent time in prison after he attacked her, but he was sentenced to serve one year in jail. She said when she heard Kooyman had allegedly struck again, she was devastated.
"My knees buckled and my body crumbled, and I fell to the ground, and I just started sobbing,” she said.
She said, even though Kooyman was on the sex offender registry, she always felt it was a matter of when, not if, he would re-offend.
"You were totally given a chance to be a responsible individual...it's not that hard! He thinks he's above the law,” she said of Kooyman.
Sim Gill, Salt Lake County District Attorney, said they raised Kooyman’s bail from $100,000 to $500,000 in light of the five felony charges against him.
"Based on what we were presented with we felt very comfortable in charging multiple sexual assaults,” he said. "He is a prior felon, and as such we take that even more seriously here."
Sabien said she believes a long prison term is the only thing that will prevent Kooyman from harming other victims in the future.
"You didn't get it before, you only got worse...he only got worse,” she said.
Kooyman remains in jail. He is due to make his first court appearance on these charges later this week.
