The victims are aged six to 10 years.
Rabat – The Court of Appeal in Casablanca sentenced a 50-year-old man to 20 years in prison for raping 20 underaged girls in Lissasfa, in the Casablanca region. The judge announced the verdict on Tuesday.
The case had been ongoing since October 2019, when police arrested the man, having received a number of complaints from the victims’ parents, Moroccan television channel 2M said.
The man had groomed the students, giving them cookies and money to exploit them sexually.
The perpetrator took the children to an empty space to rape them, and threatened to tell their parents to keep them silent.
The President of the Youth Association for National Solidarity said the verdict was “very fair.”
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“We hope the sentence will serve as an example for those who violate children’s bodies,” she told 2M.
Article 486 of the penal code in Morocco stipulates the rape of minors, people with special needs, or pregnant women is punishable with a prison sentence ranging between 10 and 20 years.
This is not the first case of pedophilia to create a national uproar. Recently, rights groups have condemned the escape of a Kuwaiti man to avoid prosecution for raping a 14-year old girl in Marrakech last year.
Moroccan authorities released the man earlier this year on bail, but without confiscating his passport. He then fled Morocco.
