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On 6 March, the Tachikawa Branch of the Tokyo District Court (Presiding Judge Takehiko Okada) handed down an 11-year sentence (14 years requested) to a man accused of filming the lower bodies of several boys' and sexually assaulting them while teaching them as a primary school teacher.

The names of the accused as well as those of the victim children were withheld from the court in order to protect their privacy, and only the name "accused" was written in the opening statement. After one of the victim children consulted the head teacher, the accused was dismissed. However, the metropolitan board of education website, where disciplinary actions are usually announced, does not contain any information on this dismissal.

The accused, who appeared to be in his 40s, was charged with two counts of forcible sexual intercourse, 15 counts of indecent assault and a violation of the Child Pornography Act for storing 49 videos.

The victims were five boys aged between 10 and 12, who were in the fifth and sixth grades of primary school at the time. The offences were repeated at the public primary school where he worked as a teacher. The accused had four children with his wife, who divorced him after the incident was discovered.

In a question to the accused at his last trial, he said: 'I was often in charge of the upper fifth and sixth grades and rough classes. I would first listen to each individual, build a relationship of trust, find a child to be the leader and organise the class. I received compliments in my daily classes and was entrusted with many tasks, and I think I was trusted by many people", etc. The accused, who looked back on his work as a teacher, continued to betray the trust of the children.

The offences were committed over a period of several years. In the school's home economics preparation room, computer room, classrooms and boys' toilets, he exposed the lower half of children's bodies and filmed videos of them, touched them on their underwear, put their lower bodies in his mouth or put his own lower body into their mouths.

During this period, he was transferred to another primary school, but instead of stopping, he continued to repeat and escalate his offending. Although there were five victims in the prosecuted case, the accused himself stated that "I think there were seven or eight other children", and that many boys were victimised. He also remembered to keep the children quiet.

'There were many boys around me who trusted me and approached me, and my work had settled down and I had more time on my hands. I turned my attention in a different direction and became involved in the assault. In the questioning of the accused, he recalled his feelings leading up to the incident: 'I filmed it to satisfy my personal sexual desire'.

"Some kids said 'no', but some said 'okay', and I interpreted that to my advantage and thought that this was something I was allowed to do, that I was being permitted to do it."

In his judgment, the judge stated that the defendant "took advantage of the children's trust in him and their inexperience in sexual knowledge to commit the offence, and filmed and stored the images on his smartphone. The crime took place in a primary school, which is supposed to be a safe place for children, and is highly malicious. The court concluded that the crime was "despicable and outrageous, trampling on the hearts of the children who trusted the accused and did not doubt him".

Several victimised children stated that they felt disgusted and embarrassed, and there are concerns about future damage and negative mental and physical effects. The consequences are serious and the feelings of punishment among the victim children and their parents are severe. After being transferred, he has been committing crimes repeatedly in accordance with his desires for more than two years with the selfish excuse that 'the victim children did not seem to dislike it', and his habitual behaviour is remarkable and his normative awareness is extremely dull. He is so reprehensible and vicious that he will be in prison for a very long time."

On the other hand, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, taking into account that he had settled with some of the boys and had no previous convictions. One of the boys has been unable to sleep at night since the incident and continues to attend counselling.

A former school teacher was sentenced today to life in prison for sexually abusing elementary school students on a U.S. military installation in Germany.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Stefan Zappey sexually abused four of his former elementary school students between 2006 and 2010. At the time, Zappey was a teacher for first through third grade students at an elementary school in Germany. The school is part of the Department of Defense Education Activity, which serves dependents of U.S. military service members stationed overseas.

“The successful prosecution of Stefan Zappey demonstrates the Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting U.S. citizens who prey on young and vulnerable children regardless of where and when the crimes occurred,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Zappey’s offenses are especially egregious because he was entrusted with teaching the children of our brave service members overseas. The courage of the victims and the perseverance of investigators and prosecutors ensured that Zappey’s offenses were exposed and will prevent him from abusing even more children.”

“Zappey abused a position of trust as an elementary school teacher and sexually abused multiple students,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “His crimes were horrific, and the community is safer now that he no longer has access to children.”

In 2020, one of Zappey’s former students notified Army criminal investigators that Zappey touched her under her clothing when she was a student at the school in 2009 and 2010. Further investigation revealed that Zappey sexually abused four of his former students by placing his hand inside their underwear and directly touching them on multiple occasions. The victims were between six and eight-years-old at the time of the sexual abuse. Other students and faculty members reported that Zappey frequently hugged students, had them sit on his lap, and touched their backs and stomachs under their clothes.

On Jan. 18, a jury convicted Zappey of four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of abusive sexual contact.

“Cases like these demonstrate the FBI’s dedication to protecting children from those who seek to exploit their innocence,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI and our partners remain committed to pursuing justice for our most innocent victims and those who are unable to defend themselves.”

“Victimizing and preying on Department of Defense dependents is unacceptable,” said Special Agent in Charge Ryan Hall of the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division’s (Army CID) Europe Field Office. “Army CID will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The District Court in Den Bosch convicted primary school teacher Bas G. of committing a long string of sexual offenses over an extended period of time. Many of the victims were young teenagers, but some were considerably younger children. His youngest known victim was just seven years old.

The Court sentenced him to eight years behind bars, and mandatory psychiatric treatment in an institutional facility. G. was a teacher at a school in Vlijmen for over 20 years. He will not be banned from returning to that profession.

The 45-year-old teacher had an extensive and meticulously maintained digital archive containing images of children, with whom he often contacted via Snapchat. He was accused of inciting them to commit sexual acts. He secretly recorded and saved these images. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect had 439 underage contacts on Snapchat, where he used the name, "Jeroentje."

In the eyes of the court, he "deceived and seriously abused" the children. "As a primary school teacher, he knew better than anyone that children are vulnerable and unable to decide whether they want to perform, take part in or view sexual acts."

At a certain point, according to the court, G. was no longer satisfied with the digital world and started looking for situations where he could by in physical contact with his victims. He was discovered last year after a report was filed against him by the owner of a naturist campsite in Elsendorp. G. is said to have approached a girl there and masturbated in her presence.

Approximately 5,000 images of child pornography were found on the suspect's computer, most of which were photos downloaded from the Internet. However, some of it also turned out to be self-made, including a number of incriminating photos showing children from his school. In one case, there was repeated physical contact between him and one of his victims. G. regularly met in a forest with a vulnerable girl who was 13 at the time. The two had sex during those meetings, which G. also filmed.

According to experts, the man has a pedophilia disorder and personality problems. The court saw no other option than to forcibly admit him into a psychiatric facility. The Public Prosecution Service also demanded a professional ban, but according to the court that would not be worthwhile. "That would be purely symbolic."