The public prosecutor has requested a 20-year prison sentence and a ban on teaching for a nursery schoolteacher from Nederbrakel (East Flanders) that is on trial for a series of rapes on small boys at the school in the village of Onkerzele, near Geraardsbergen in East Flanders where he worked. His trial is one of the biggest child abuse cases in recent years. It got under way Friday morning at the Criminal Court in the East Flemish town of Oudenaarde. The trial is being conducted behind closed doors at the request of the civil parties in the case.
The 39-year-old man that is on trial is suspected of having raped 16 boys aged between 2.5 and 5. They were all children that were in his charge at the De Springplank Nursery and Primary School in Onkerzele, a village near to the East Flemish town of Geraardsbergen.
He is charged with aggravated rape on the grounds that he had authority over his victims and that they were under the age of 10. He is also charged with distributing images of sexual assaults on minors.
At the opening hearing on 13 June, the case was immediately adjourned until today (19 September) at the request of the defence. The defendant was not present on 13 June. However, he was present on Friday morning.
Verdict expected on 3 October
Last year the American police service FBI intercepted a video showing a child being raped. The FBI referred the case to Europol. Europol analysed the footage and was able to establish that the abuse had taken place at the in Onkerzele. The nursery schoolteacher was arrested on 2 February and has been in custody ever since.
The parents of dozens of children are civil parties in the case, as is the school, the organisation for missing and abused children Child Focus and the teacher's former partner.
In addition to a 20-year prison senternce and a ban from teaching, the public prosecutor has also requested that the man be banned having any contact with minors. A verdict is expected in 2 weeks’ time on 3 October.