For the first time since the start of the Parisian after-school scandal, the courts on Friday July 10 convicted a facilitator for sexual assault on a child, the court relying on the “consistency” and “particular credibility” of the words of the little girl victim.
This 18-month suspended prison sentence is a landmark: it comes after the acquittals enjoyed by two other Parisian hosts, against which the prosecution appealed. These decisions were widely criticized by associations and civil parties, who interpreted them as a refusal of justice to take into account the words of children.
In one of these two cases, the court noted “variations in (their) statements”, which could have been guided “by the questions of their parents”. Nothing like this this time, the court noting that the child, now six years old, had made “constant, precise and compatible statements with her young age”, which contrasted with those of the host, “fluctuating”, “evolving”.
Since the start of 2026, 132 facilitators have been suspended, including 52 for “suspicion of sexual or sexist violence”, a number reflecting a “systemic” nature, according to the mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire, who implemented a 20 million euro action plan for after-school activities.
“We are happy that this child’s words have been heard,” said the family’s lawyer, Charles Héran, as he left the court. “This is an extremely encouraging decision for the future.”
“Today, a court believed the word of a nursery school child who was the victim of sexual assault in the Parisian after-school setting,” praised Barka Zerouali, spokesperson for #MeTooEcole, nevertheless regretting that the sentence was fully suspended.
For the spokesperson for the SOS Périscolaire collective, Anne (who does not wish to give her name), this conviction demonstrates that “it is possible to condemn on the basis of the words of a child by cross-checking and a collection of clues”. In the two previous trials, “the words of nine children were not enough compared to the words of a single adult,” she lamented.
“No tendency towards fabrication”
The facts for which Souleymane D. was tried, touching of the neck, back, genitals and buttocks, took place in a leisure center in the 10th arrondissement, between October 2023 and July 2025, until the child complained to his parents, “spontaneously”, “on the occasion of his repeated refusal to return to the center”.
She designated Souleymane D. “from the first exchanges”, describes her modus operandi, “reproducing the gestures on a doll when the words failed her”, continues the court. “The embarrassment when discussing the facts, the precision of his descriptions, the expression of his feelings and the reiteration of his statements before the investigators and then before the psychologist, who had not noted any tendency towards fabrication, reinforced the reliability of his words”, insist the judges.
Conversely, Souleymane D. provided “unconvincing” and varied explanations “on the degree of knowledge of the victim and the actions he may have taken, first denying any physical contact before admitting to having pulled her hood and tickling her, while disputing the touching complained of.”
Finally, to establish the court’s conviction, this fragility of the host’s defense was accompanied by material facts: “the configuration of the playground allowed the commission of acts out of sight of other adults” and the host had photos in his cell phone showing that “he maintained physical contact” with children, even though he knew that this was prohibited.
Souleymane D., 25 years old, who made no statement at the end of the hearing, has ten days to appeal this judgment accompanied by a definitive ban on carrying out an activity involving habitual contact with minors and registration in the automated judicial file of perpetrators of sexual or violent offenses (Fijaisv).
