France has uncovered a new case of a serial rapist targeting children and teenagers. The public prosecutor's office announced on Tuesday that a 79-year-old man has confessed to sexually assaulting 89 minors, all boys, between the ages of 13 and 17 at the time of the crimes, which he allegedly committed between 1967 and 2022 in various countries. The pedophile, born in Annecy, was arrested more than two years ago, but the case had not been made public until now. The Grenoble prosecutor's office decided to release the information—without providing details of the case. modus operandi of the rapist—to try to find all the victims. So far, only half have been identified.

Xavier Padial left the courtroom almost unfazed, handcuffed and surrounded by six Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police officers), heading straight to the cells. The Barcelona Provincial Court had just announced, a few minutes before 1:00 p.m., that he was sentenced to 57 years in prison for torture, as argued by the prosecution during the trial, and for the continuous sexual abuse of two of his underage cousins and for inducing one of them into prostitution. Furthermore, this confessed pedophile from Barberà del Vallès is also convicted of producing and possessing pornographic material. But the man will only have to serve the maximum effective sentence: 20 years.