French Pedophile Ring on Trial

(Outreau, France) Seventeen adults are being tried on charges of child rape involving eighteen children over a period of five years.

The six women and 11 men on trial have also been charged with "rape with torture" and "rape with barbaric acts". Some of their own children were named as victims.

The case came to the attention of prosecutors in December 2000, when social services alerted them to the possible sexual abuse committed by an unemployed couple against their own four children, AFP said.

The children, once they had been placed in foster care, told investigators they had been fondled, raped, coerced into performing sex acts and forced to watch pornographic films.

The ring allegedly included a bailiff, his wife, a taxi driver, and a priest. One suspect has already committed suicide.

This is just too horrible to adequately describe my thoughts.