Gilles, the gym teacher suspected of pedophile touching on 11 underage girls in Tarn-et-Garonne between 2013 and 2018 was tried yesterday by the Montauban court. The deliberation will take place on July 6.
“Dad tickles but not like that”. “Tickling”, “gestures”, this is around what were partly centered the debates yesterday afternoon in the court of Montauban during the trial of Gilles. This gymnastics teacher is suspected of pedophile touching on no less than 11 girls, aged between six and 12 years old at the time of the facts, in the municipalities of Moissac, Montesquieu, Castelsarrasin, Valence d’Agen and Montauban from 2013 to 2018.
The facts had been revealed in 2018 (see The Dispatch of December 16, 2019) by Sylvie’s daughter who refused to go to gym class because her teacher was fondling her. Sylvie complains and alerts the other mothers. A group sets up in search of other victims of Gilles… they will find 11: “We went from five to 11, we did not expect to find so many victims, it’s terrible,” recalls Sylvie. .
Arrived from Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) in 2013 in Tarn-et-Garonne to follow his companion, Gilles then started self-employed, gymnastics lessons for children during extracurricular times. Described as being very close with the children, the one who wants to be called “Gilou” enjoys a good reputation and lavishes his lessons in several towns.
At the helm, it is a frail 57-year-old man, with short, graying hair, adorned with small glasses who introduces himself. Under judicial control since 2018, it is free that he arrived in court. Behind him, about twenty victims: parents and children do not take their eyes off him. Not for a single moment does the latter turn his head towards them, even when he apologizes to the victims for the touching.
Touching always operated in the same way: during lessons, in the presence of other children, Gilles only touched girls “where he was not allowed”, according to one of them. If he does not refute the touching, Gilles evokes gymnastic positions forcing him to sometimes position his hands on the private parts of little girls to “adorn” them: the buttocks, the chest and the penis. Gestures “supported” and “systematic” according to the file.
Faced with this, the suspect denies having slipped his hand in the panties of certain files and for some of his victims, he denies the touching. Enough to make Me Tempels Ruiz jump, who speaks of a “manipulator who changes version depending on who he is addressing”. The latter requires a three-year prison sentence and a ban on any activity with children. A request followed by the vice-prosecutor who attaches a follow-up obligation for 10 years.
The deliberation will take place on July 6, one more wait for victims who would like to move on.
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