A former sports teacher was sentenced by the Colmar court to one year in prison, which can be served under electronic monitoring, for voyeurism, sexual assault, and possession of child pornography.

The Colmar criminal court on Thursday sentenced a 51-year-old former physical education teacher to one year in prison, a sentence that can be served under house arrest with an electronic tag, for secretly filming teenage girls. He also received an eight-year period of post-release supervision and was banned from entering swimming pools or any other public establishment that welcomes children.

The man was arrested in March 2023 at a public swimming pool in Guebwiller, north of Mulhouse, while filming young girls. Charged with voyeurism, he also appeared in court for possessing and making stolen videos of schoolgirls at the private Champagnat school in Issenheim, where he taught, as well as for sexually assaulting three girls during swimming lessons or at a gymnastics club in Mulhouse where he volunteered.

Voyeurism, sexual assault and child pornography

At the hearing, his lawyer, Mélissa Lahouaoui, requested acquittal regarding the images filmed in 2016 at the Champagnat institution, arguing that they predated the period of prevention established by the investigation, set between 2018 and 2023. The prosecution had requested two years in prison with a deferred detention order and eight years of socio-judicial supervision for the teacher, who has been on sick leave since his first custody and appeared diminished during the hearing.

The court ultimately found him guilty of voyeurism, two sexual assaults, and filming and possessing child pornography. However, he was acquitted of the charges against the Champagnat institution and of one of the sexual assaults, which was deemed insufficiently substantiated.