An animator must appear from Thursday, June 17 in front of the Pas-de-Calais assizes in Saint-Omer for rapes, attempted rapes and sexual assaults committed against fourteen very young children, in Outreau (Pas-de-Calais).
Read also: Sexual violence against minors: Calliope, a method to help free the speech of child victims
The investigation began in March 2017, when the mother of a four-year-old boy who was in contact with this facilitator in a socio-cultural center in Outreau denounced the sexual violence against her son to the police. In police custody, this 29-year-old man with a clean criminal record admitted sexual assault against this little boy, including an attempted rape in the centre's dormitory, which he filmed, but also against four other children, four or five years old. Some had taken place in a school in Outreau where he intervened during the time of extracurricular activities.
He is finally tried for acts on 14 children, 12 little boys and two girls, between September 2015 and March 2017. For five of these children, he is accused of rape. The young man, who was remanded in custody, admits some facts but denies others. He must also answer for the detention and usual consultation of child pornography images. He was involved in several schools and in this socio-cultural center, both as an animator, AVS (school life assistant, responsible for supporting a disabled child attending school in ordinary schools) and as a volunteer. He had also accompanied summer camps for military children, but he is not accused of any fact in this context. His lawyer, contacted by AFP, did not wish to make a statement to the press.
A facilitator appreciated by his colleagues
In the structures of Outreau where he worked, the facilitator was "
considered a real teacher
", "
very well noted, extremely appreciated by his colleagues and management
", underlines Me Fabienne Roy-Nansion, lawyer of two families.
"
The collection of children's words was done very carefully, there is no pollution of children's words
", welcomes this lawyer, who had also intervened in the so-called "
Outreau case.
".
In addition to the families of the children, the Voice of the Child is a civil party in this case. "
We need a mobilization of public opinion on its responsibility to report
" this type of facts, underlines the president of the association, Martine Brousse. "
What happened so that no one noticed anything for years?" Has information been transmitted without being processed?
She asks herself.