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english.elpais.com Man charged in France with filming the abuse and rape of over 30 children aged 3 to 9 Raquel Villaécija 4 - 5 minutes

A 40-year-old man with no prior criminal record and a father of two has been formally charged with raping and sexually abusing 34 children between the ages of three and nine between 2020 and 2024 in Lucenay, a town of just over 2,000 inhabitants near Lyon, France. He filmed and photographed the victims, who were his children’s schoolmates, and committed the acts when the children came to his house to play with his children during so-called “sleepovers.”

Romain G. has been formally charged with rape, sexual abuse, and possession of child pornography, as confirmed to this newspaper by the Villefranche-sur-Saône Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the case. Suspicion about his criminal activity dates back to 2024, although investigators have continued, adding offenses and victims as the inquiry progressed.

It all began in December 2024, when the parents of three of the children reported to the gendarmerie the abuse their children said they had suffered at the hands of the father of another pupil from the same school during the “sleepovers” held at the latter’s home.

According to the prosecution, the accused was questioned, held in police custody, and released, but had to be hospitalized for a few days after attempting suicide. He was then placed in pre‑trial detention. Investigators began examining his files and, after interviewing the three initial complainants and other children, expanded the investigation.

The agents “focused on analyzing Romain G.’s computer equipment.” Initially, they found 127 videos and 197 photographs involving some 30 minors. The acts were committed while the children were awake, but also while they were asleep.

During this time, “efforts have been made to try to identify and question them all,” and support has been provided by the Family Protection House (MPF), the gendarmerie service specializing in assisting minors in these types of cases.

“Following the interrogations and the rigorous analysis of the files,” the charges were expanded: they are no longer limited to the initial three victims, but to some 30 identified children, although “not all of them were victims of the same acts,” explained prosecutor Laetitia Francart. Some suffered abuse, others rape, and others were filmed naked.

From the beginning, the accused has admitted to the crimes. Before attempting suicide, he left a letter for his family in which he said: “I think I was born this way, I never chose to like children… very young. I have hated myself for this,” he wrote in a letter, published by the newspaper Le Monde, the media outlet that broke the story. “A clear and repeated pattern of pedophilic behavior”

According to this French newspaper, which had access to the psychiatric evaluations conducted by experts who examined him in prison, Romain G., who worked in the film industry, “has a clear and recurring pedophilic behavior” and presents a high level of criminal dangerousness. The police ultimately found more than 300 photos and videos.

Lucenay is a small town near Lyon. For months, a psychological support team has been operating at the R.D. school — where the suspect’s children and the victims are enrolled — to assist minors, with psychologists and lawyers available to the families. “At this point, the investigation continues in order to accurately determine the context in which the events occurred,” said the prosecutor.

This case comes to light just over two months after the revelations concerning Jacques Leveugle, a 79‑year‑old man, also with no prior record, who abused 89 children in about 10 countries. Exactly one year ago, one of the most notorious pedophiles in recent French history, Joël Le Scouarnec, a former surgeon, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping more than 300 victims, most of them minors, while practicing medicine.

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