A teacher, who has been held in detention since November last year, has been found guilty of sexually abusing pupils at a school in Beja.
The 48-year-old man has been convicted of abusing four children and mistreated another between 2015 and 2017 at the school in the village of Salvada, Beja.
The teacher also had several pornographic photographs on his computer.
The Public Prosecutor's Office had accused him of 534 crimes of child sexual abuse, a crime of child pornography and another of ill-treatment, a total of 536 crimes.
The man was arrested following a complaint by a pupil’s parents. When he was detained in 2017, Judicial Police admitted that he had been under suspicion since 2015 and that the teacher used his status to commit acts of a sexual nature.
One of the victims' parents complained to the police and when officers started to investigate, it soon became clear that there were many more children involved.
It is alleged that the teacher, in between classes, convinced selected children to go with him to a room in the school where he told them to undress. He then caressed their sexual organs and kissed the children.
A panel of judges in the Judicial Court of Beja gave him a sentence of 18 years in prison.
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