” Amazing “, “unthinkable”, “It’s high-flying”… In the salle des pas perdus of the Saint-Denis de La Réunion Court of Appeal, the release, following several legal blunders, of an English teacher suspected of having raped two schoolgirls aged 14 and 16 years in Mayotte arouses indignant reactions and harsh comments.
Faced with “gross and deplorable errors” at the Mamoudzou judicial court, General Advocate Emmanuelle Barre expressed regret at the hearing, the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal could only find the nullity of the extension of the provisional detention of this 38-year-old teacher who worked at the college of Kawéni, in the prefecture of Mayotte. The suspect, also indicted for “corruption of minors by a person in authority”, “voyeurism”, and “possession and recording of child pornography images”, between February 2019 and January 2022, was placed under judicial supervision on Wednesday April 12, with a series of obligations and prohibitions, reports The Journal of Reunion Island.
This English teacher had been in pre-trial detention since January 31, 2022. The investigation was triggered by a report from the rectorate of Mayotte. A 12-year-old schoolgirl had denounced the teacher, who had asked her for a photo of her breasts through Facebook. During a search of the home of the respondent, the Mayotte police found nearly 2,000 illicit photos and videos stored in his phone and computer, some of which show the rape of very young children. In the memory of his devices also appeared selfies taken by the teacher in his establishment with two students aged 14 and 16 giving him a blowjob. As well as images of digital penetrations. The computer expertise also revealed that the teacher had, on several occasions, taken photos under the dresses of several of his students.
Recipient error
Since his indictment, the English teacher has disputed the facts of rape. His release on parole, however, comes following a cascade of errors that occurred during the extension of his pre-trial detention, a year after his incarceration. The teacher’s summons for a hearing in early February was first sent to the Majicavo remand center in Mayotte, while he is being held in the Domenjod penitentiary center in Reunion. This is far from the only blunder. “Instead of summoning your lawyer, we summoned a former vice-president of the Mamoudzou judicial court”detailed at the hearing the president of the investigating chamber of the Reunion Court of Appeal, Pierre Kuentz.
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