PARIS (AP) — Parents’ groups in France called Tuesday for more attention to long-ignored child abuse scandals as a rare public trial opened Tuesday of a school assistant accused of sexually assaulting nine small children in Paris.Inspired by Gisèle Pelicot ’s decision to make her harrowing drug and rape trial public, the parents of the children agreed to open the proceedings. In France, trials involving minors are usually held behind closed doors.According to their lawyers, some parents said they were following the example of Pelicot and her motto that “shame must change sides” to abusers, not victims.The Paris case emerged in April 2025 after several children told their parents they allegedly had been sexually abused at a nursery school.The defendant, 36, who has not been publicly identified, is accused of assaulting children while supervising them in bathrooms, during lunch breaks and in after-school care between August 2024 and April 2025. He has denied any sexual abuse against children.
The children were between 3 and 5 years old at the time. They do not have to attend the trial. A judge has read their testimonies to investigators.
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The defendant is also accused of sexually harassing two co-workers and sexually assaulting one of them. He faces up to 10 years in prison. His lawyer would not speak with The Associated Press before the trial.Barka Zerouali, co-founder of parents’ group MeToo Ecole, or MeToo School, said at a protest outside the courthouse that “there needs to be a national wake-up call at some point.” Protesters carried a banner reading: “Because no child should be afraid to go to school.”
