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89 minors over 55 years: French man's rape, sexual assault charges stuns nation
The suspect's name has been made public to encourage other victims to come forward.
A 79-year-old man has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting 89 minors over more than 50 years in France, triggering a grim reminder of the Gisele Pelicot case across the country.
Grenoble prosecutor Étienne Manteaux made the suspect's identity public: Jacques Laveugle, adding that he admitted to killing his mother and aunt as well, prompting another parallel case.
Authorities formally began probing Laveugle in February 2024, launching an investigation into aggravated rape and sexual assault of minors. He has been held in pretrial detention since April last year, The Associated Press reported.
The prosecutor stated that Laveugle had worked in several roles, including in schools, as a private tutor, and as a cave exploration guide.
USB drive unmasked paedophile
The serial rape case has reportedly been built on what investigators said were writings compiled by the suspect himself. He reportedly collated the writings in a digital "memoir", which was later found on a USB drive by a relative and handed over to authorities.
Prosecutors described the text as '15 volumes', enabling law enforcement authorities to identify the alleged 89 victims, boys aged 13-17 at the time of the alleged incidents, from 1967 to 2022.
The prosecutor stated that the suspect's 'memoir' describes sexual acts with minors in several countries, including India. Other countries named are Switzerland, Germany, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, the Philippines and the French territory of New Caledonia.
Manteaux said the suspect's name was made public to encourage other victims to come forward. The clarification from the prosecutor came as people under investigation are normally not named in France.
“This name must be known because the goal is to allow possible victims to come forward,” he said during a press briefing.
Authorities set up a hotline and released Laveugle's pictures over the decades, saying that anyone who believes they were a victim or has information about him should contact them.
The prosecutor affirmed that investigators are hoping to identify all the alleged victims without a public appeal. However, they found that the recovered documents contained several incomplete identities.
“We thought we would be able, internally, to identify all the victims,” Manteaux said, but “we realised we were up against a wall.”
Laveugle has also acknowledged smothering his mother to death when she was in the terminal phase of cancer, and later killing his 92-year-old aunt.
Manteaux revealed that investigators also found out why Laveugle killed his aunt. He allegedly told them that it was "because he had to return to the Cévennes (region of France) and she begged him not to leave, he also chose to put her to death.”
The prosecutor pressed on the need to move quickly in the investigation into the alleged rapes and sexual abuse carried out by Laveugle.
“There is urgency,” he was cited as saying on RTL radio. He cited the suspect's age and the difficulty in tracing victims across 55 years.
Educator in foreign countries
Laveugle carried out the assaults in France and other foreign countries, where he was working as an educator.
He spent several years in Morocco as a tutor for low-income families, where he is suspected of having abused at least ten victims, Manteaux told AP. His stay in Morocco spanned from 1974 to 2024.
Laveugle, currently living in the North African country, was arrested during a return trip to France.
The suspect also lived in Algeria from 1967 to 1969 and 1971 to 1975, working as a teacher. There, he is suspected of abusing at least two children,
The Gisele Pelicot case
France is still recovering from one of the most shocking recent sexual violence trials in the country. Gisele Pelicot's husband was convicted of drugging her and recruiting over 70 strangers online between 2011 and 2020 to rape her.
The case's trial began in 2024, exposing a shocking case of systemic sexual abuse while Gisele Pelicot was unconscious. Her husband had also reportedly filmed the acts.
Investigators said that in both the Pelicot and Laveugle cases, a digital trail proved to be the turning point. In Pelicot's case, it was dozens of recordings and files, and in Laveugle's, it was a USB drive with writings.
