A 60-year-old teacher has been put aside at the Sint-Franciscus school in Turnhout, after several complaints of indecent assault were reported. According to information from the Nieuwsblad, the parents of a minor pupil lodged a complaint at the beginning of August: “The day after this complaint, the police carried out a search of the home and the man was brought before the judge in instruction from Turnhout,” explained Kristof Aerts, spokesman for the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office. Since then, the sexagenarian can no longer have contact with minors under the age of 14 and must undergo specialized treatment. After the first complaint, four new reports were added to the investigation.
Last weekend, the parents of students received a letter with more explanations concerning this case. “We understand that there is a great deal of unrest and uncertainty within our school community about a colleague for whom a legal investigation has been opened following a complaint,” the principal wrote, Lut Verheyen. “We are strictly following the investigation procedure and we are trying to let the court do its job calmly and with the necessary respect for all those involved,” added the director.
In the letter, the management insists that “the colleague involved will not start this school year and will not have contact with the students. We especially want to reassure everyone.”
The school also continued
To our colleagues from the Nieuwsblad, Lut Verheyen confided that this story had caused him a few sleepless nights: “I trust the court. We are now focusing on the possible victims. We want to be there for them, for their parents and their environment”.
The teacher touched his students when they sat on his lap in class, indicate our colleagues from HLN. According to the King’s prosecutor, the management would have been negligent and the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office would like to prosecute both the overwhelmed teacher and the school management. Rumors about the professor had actually been circulating for several years, but nothing had ever been proven, until a child decided to confide in his mother. She explained that the teacher slipped his hand into the panties of her sister, who was in the class of the teacher in question, when he brought her to his lap.
Once the professor was arrested, the investigators put pressure on him and he confessed to many other facts of pedophilia. While awaiting trial, he has an absolute ban on contact with minors under the age of 14, as well as specialized treatment to follow for his sexual problems.