Brown hair combed back, thin glasses on a thick face, and brown sweater, Jean-Christophe Quenot, 56, must answer for six rapes and 19 sexual assaults on Malaysian boys aged 10 to 17 between January 2014 and October 2017 He is only being tried for these facts alone even though he is suspected of having committed sexual abuse against at least fifty minors in several countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia). for around thirty years.
French justice wanted to “split” the various cases in which he is involved. “Particularly heavy investigations both due to the number of sexual abuses extended over time and international investigations (…), must continue acting on the other charges,” the investigators estimated.
Jean-Christophe Quenot’s lawyers contested what they call a “procedural trick”, asking for the trial to be postponed so that their client can be judged once and for all. The departmental criminal court, chaired by Laurent Raviot, rejected this referral request.
Around fifty children between 1990 and 2019
The French as a foreign language teacher, who settled in Singapore in the early 1990s, is suspected of having abused at least fifty children between 1990 and 2019. He was arrested in February 2019 by the Thai police while he was in a Bangkok hotel room with two 14-year-old boys. The police also discovered a camera and a computer with child pornography content.
He was released after a few days after paying bail of 300,000 bahts (around 8,000 euros) in cash. Equipped with his French passport, he then managed to leave Thailand illegally via Malaysia to reach France. He was finally arrested at his family home in Besançon on March 30, 2019.
While in police custody, he admitted paying young boys to satisfy his fantasies. “We find young boys open to commercial sex because they are poor and need pocket money,” he explained. Asked about the films he filmed during his sexual encounters, he assured that “the kids like to play the ‘porn star’ when they have sex with me.”
More than 174,000 photos and videos showing him abusing children were seized by investigators. After the testimony of experts and investigators, the court planned to question him on Monday. The requisitions and the verdict are expected Tuesday.