Star Metro - Paris school aide tried for alleged sexual assault of preschoolers

Parents in the city have in recent months accused supervisors in charge of children outside the classroom -- such as during recess or before pick-up -- of mistreating or physically or sexually abusing pupils in their care.

The French capital's new mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, a Socialist who says he suffered sexual abuse himself during an after-school swimming programme in primary, has announced dozens of suspensions and pledged to stamp out such violence.

David G., a 36-year-old freelance journalist who worked in a kindergarten to help make ends meet, has been charged with sexual assault of five preschoolers aged three to five and sexual harassment of two female colleagues between September 2024 and April 2025.

The defendant, who has denied the charges, arrived in a packed court on Tuesday afternoon, shielding his face from photographers by holding up a yellow document file.

Four other families have also accused him of sexually abusing their children in cases not reviewed by the prosecutor's office, but that will be referred to in court.

Dozens of activists protested outside before the trial started.

"We're hoping for a real conviction, a harsh one, because there are so few when it comes to sexual assaults on children," said Anne, who did not give her surname and said her son goes to the same school in Paris' 11th district.

- Allegations at 84 kindergartens -

The mayor's office said the defendant had been suspended immediately in April last year after parents complained and the principal alerted the authorities.

Police gathered statements from very young children describing, in their own words, how the defendant touched their private parts.

The accused, who risks 10 years in jail and a fine of 150,000 euros ($175,000), denies the accusations. But he admitted to breaking the guidelines, including that an adult looking after pupils should not have a child sit on their lap.

His lawyer did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

The same court is next month to issue a verdict in a separate case judged behind closed doors, in which prosecutors demanded a suspended 18-month sentence for a 47-year-old man for sexually harassing nine schoolgirls then aged 10, and assaulting three of them. He was suspended in 2024.

Three other such trials involving accusations against non-teaching school helpers in Paris are expected before early September.

Paris investigators are looking into allegations non-teaching staff recruited by the city mistreated or abused children at 84 kindergartens and around 20 primary schools, the Paris prosecutor said earlier this month.

In the first three months of 2026, Paris suspended 78 aides, including 31 suspected of sexual abuse, the mayor has said.

An estimated 160,000 children suffer rape or sexual assault each year in France, according to an independent commission called CIIVISE. The abuser is a family member in eight out of 10 cases.

D.Ch. Nadeau--SMC