A 79-year-old French man has been charged with aggravated rape and sexual assault against 89 minors between 1967 and 2022.
Prosecutors revealed his identity for the first time on Tuesday.
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The prosecutor, Etienne Manteaux, spoke to reporters in the southeastern city of Grenoble to publicise the case and appeal for witnesses and any other potential victims to come forward.
It also said the probe revealed the man, who has been in custody since his indictment in 2024, also confessed to suffocating his terminally ill mother with a pillow in the 1970s and then his elderly aunt in the 1990s.
Manteaux said the accused person’s crimes against the minors were allegedly committed in Germany, Switzerland, Morocco, Niger, Algeria, the Philippines, India, Colombia, and the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, where he worked as a freelance teacher and instructor.
He added that his varied roles included instructor of speleology, or the science of caves, and French teacher.
The prosecutors further said they have publicised the case with the aim of urging witnesses and any other potential victims to come forward.
He added that the USB stick on which the documents were stored by the man was discovered by his nephew, who was “questioning his uncle’s emotional and sexual life.”