Mother saw ex-husband abuse her daughters, trial told

A leading suspect in France’s massive paedophilia case testified today that she saw her ex-husband and former father-in-law sexually abuse her daughters as well as other children.

The woman identified only as Patricia M is herself accused of sexually abusing, corrupting and prostituting children. She is one of 66 defendants on trial for alleged involvement in the rape, sexual abuse and prostitution of children – some too young to walk.

The court in Angers, 165 miles south-west of Paris has been hearing testimony since early March, including video recording from some of the child victims, who are not present here.

Investigators say 45 children – between the ages of six months and 14 years - were abused by their parents or their acquaintances from 1999 to 2002, in some cases in exchange for small amounts of money, food, cigarettes or alcohol.

Most of the defendants come from the same working-class neighbourhood of Angers, many are unemployed and express themselves only with difficulty.

The defendants are identified by first name and last initial only to preserve the anonymity of the alleged child victims.

Patricia M kept up the accusations against her ex-husband, Franck V, that she began yesterday evening, when she claimed she saw him sodomise their two-year-old son. Today, she testified seeing her husband fondling Lucie H at their home while his father fondled her two daughters.

“I think she’s trying to sink me,” Franck V said when asked to respond, calling his ex-wife a “liar.”

She testified that she also saw her former husband and father-in-law sodomise, one after the other, a child named Anne D, and found her husband sodomising Yves L, yet another child.

At the start of the trial, Patricia M said she had been an abandoned child and raped by her adoptive father when she was a little girl. That and other testimony has suggested that the child abuse was passed on from generation to generation.

Three defendants in the case face life imprisonment if convicted of raping minors under age 15 and of active participation in a prostitution ring.

Thirty-six, including Patricia M, face up to 20 years imprisonment if convicted on similar charges.

Others face sentences of between three and 10 years imprisonment if convicted.