A Brussels teacher trainee was convicted on Wednesday of sexually abusing 26 boys between the ages of five and six.
The abuse occurred between 2017 and 2019 in a school in Frasnes-lez-Anvaing (a municipality of Wallonia in the province of Hainaut) and in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean in Brussels, De Standaard reports.
The man is said to have confessed to the facts after his arrest.
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Last month, the Brussels public prosecutor's office demanded four years in prison for the man, but the defence pleaded for a suspended sentence and he was ultimately given a 40-month suspended sentence with conditions, including counselling.
An investigation into the man was opened after several complaints and it was discovered that 26 boys were victims. When the children asked him to go to the toilet, the teacher accompanied them and then abused them there.
