On Thursday morning, a former social worker accused of sexually assaulting a number of women while working for Sanem municipal council was sentenced to 7 years in prison, with five years suspended.

The man was accused of nine cases of sexual harassment and one case of rape, targeting his victims between 2010 and 2019, when he was employed by the council. The attacks were only made public after a number of colleagues in the social care office reported the allegations shared with them by the victims. The defendant was made to quit his job shortly afterwards as an investigation was launched, which later led to the trial.

Abuse of power

All the victims were women who were recipients of benefits and other assistance from the social welfare office. As a result, they were afraid of losing this vital support if they spoke out against their abuser. The defendant's crimes followed the same procedure for each victim: first he would establish contact with the woman at work in a formal manner, but then the social worker became more and more intrusive, despite being married with a family of his own.

The victims said he started with kissing them on the cheek, then he would turn up at their homes unannounced and touch them inappropriately. According to the judicial police testimony in court, some of the victims received regular messages over a period of four months. The defendant asked his victims to send him naked images of themselves, and insisted on visiting them at home. The exchanges were relatively one-sided. In one case, he turned up at his victim's home and subjected her to sexual assault – an allegation he denied in court.

Who knew what and when?

During the trial it was asked whether the municipality was aware of the accusations sooner but did not act until it became public. One victim said she had contacted the then-mayor of Sanem personally to share her traumatic experiences, but that there had been no reaction. The defendant is said to have boasted of his close friendship with the former mayor. However, Georges Engel told RTL he was not aware of the crimes prior to 2019 and that he had suspended the defendant immediately after learning of the allegations.

Of the women who appeared as civil parties in the trial, just one was awarded €3,000 in damages. The others had to settle for a symbolic euro in legal costs. The municipality of Sanem, which had requested damages in the amount of €480,000, received nothing.

The former social worker must also undergo psychiatric treatment.