A previously happy child who became disconsolately sad, one who became afraid to go to the bathroom, another who developed night terrors. The children at the centre of a sexual abuse trial that began in Paris this week are aged between three and five, too young to testify or even fully describe what may have happened to them. It is therefore testimony about changes in their behaviour by their mothers that is set to be crucial in the first public trial in a sprawling scandal about the abuse of children in Paris schools.“Do I have to go to snack time? It was always the first question of the day,” the mother of a three-year-old recalled on the stand at the Paris courthouse. “And if the answer was yes, there would be an hour of crying. We almost had to physically drag him out.”“Snack time” was supervised by David G, the school assistant who is accused of sexually assaulting nine children between August 2024 and 2025 at the Alphonse Baudin junior school in the 11th arrondissement. Named with the first initial of his surname according to rules on reporting judicial proceedings in France, the 36-year-old is also accused of the sexual harassment of two colleagues at the school.“I am totally innocent of all these acts of abuse against these children and my colleagues,” David G told the court. “Looking back, I tell myself that I should have been more careful with the children, kept my distance, held them less on my lap.”The case is part of an abuse scandal that has steadily widened over the past year, with 84 Parisian pre-schools, 20 primary schools, and roughly 10 daycares now under investigation over child abuse allegations according to judicial authorities.Another trial began earlier this month behind closed doors, with three further cases due to begin this summer. Since the start of the year, 78 municipal school employees have been suspended, including 31 for suspected sexual abuse.[ Daniela Klette: Germany’s former most-wanted woman jailed for 13 years for armed robberiesOpens in new window ]Those accused are largely animateurs, or non-teaching staff employed to lead afterschool activities and supervise children during break times, lunch times and naps.The scandal has political implications, highlighting structural problems that appear to have originated with a reorganisation of school hours more than a decade ago that made Parisian schools reliant on a workforce of poorly paid assistants on casual contracts employed directly by City Hall.David G’s colleagues have said he was left alone with children due to understaffing, while his own lawyer François Epoma has said his client was unqualified and was hired due to shortages.“Children are not protected in school. The recruitment criteria need to be completely reviewed because unqualified people shouldn’t be hired to look after our children. That’s the responsibility of the state in this affair,” Epoma told journalists at the court.Parents and groups advocating for further reforms demonstrated with protest placards outside the courthouse.The mayor of Paris has vowed to overhaul the recruitment and training system with €20 million in funding, while the national government has introduced a bill that would broaden background checks and allow employers to quickly suspend workers if a complaint is made.[ Von der Leyen calls for unified drone alert system for Baltic StatesOpens in new window ]Some children told their parents that David G had taken photos of them, but a search of his devices did not find abuse material. Lawyers for the families have emphasised that the children’s accounts are consistent, even if imperfectly expressed.“A kindergartner doesn’t invent sexual abuse,” lawyer Rebecca Royer told the court.“All these children who do not know each other report the same incidents, the same actions in the same places – libraries, canteens, toilets – with the same perpetrator, and the same system of secrecy.”